Dark Mage - Volume 1 - Chapter 11

At the time when he was in a fierce battle with the black dragon, Shrekheimer was barely able to extricate his body during the desperate situation. Even though he was a high ranking priest, he was lacking in ability to face a dragon.  He was able to resist because the black dragon was not able to use his full might in an enclose space.  If not, he would have already passed on to the netherworld.  Shrekheimer had escaped by a hair’s breadth and immediately he headed towards the archbishop Ificross.  His was trying to protect the most important Tablet of Oath.  However when he arrive, he only saw the cold decapitated corpse of the archbishop Ificross.  Because of this, he was able to witness the moment the humans’ Tablet of Oath was being stolen.  He could only hide without any strength, and he cried bloody tears.  Shrekheimer clenched his fists when he thought about that moment.

“We must, we must recover the Tablet of Oath.  To do so, it is imperative that I persuade the swordsman from the other world.”

Each kingdom’s soldiers already knew that the Tablet of Oath was stolen.  The truth had already been spread.  They had to recapture the Tablet of Oath to reverse tide of war.

“We need his abilities to bring back the Tablet of Oath from the hand of the dragons.”

He quietly walked towards his residence. No matter what happens, he resolved to cajole Dok-gosong into recovering the Tablet of Oath..

Shrekhimer treated Dok-gosong with sincerity while his body recovered.  Do-gosong was depressed by the loss of his mu-gong(TLN:martial arts) but he started getting curious about the new world he had arrived in.

“So this, Truvania continent, is unimaginably far from Zhongyuan.”

“Yes.  It can’t be judged in mere distance but there is an enormous time, spatial difference between the two continents. We were able to succeed in spatial relocation but if we use the same method, we have no idea if we could return.  The art of spatial relocation is a magic with very low success rate.”

“Mmmm.”

Dok-go song made a sound of deep thought.  According to his words, it was almost impossible for him to return to his Zhongyuan.”

‘Even if I return with this messed up body, I’ll have no chance of having revenge against that despicable Sah-joonhwan bastard’

Do-gosong smiled a bitterly and he look straight at Shrekhimer.  After becoming conscious, he was being schooled by Shrekheimer.

“What was your purpose in bring me here then.  Also, I also want to know why you are treating me with gracious hospitality.”

“There is a long story to be revealed.  I will start explaining.”

As a person who had taught trainees in the past, Shrekhemier knew what he should tell the foreigner.  Dok-gosong, who was watching the other’s mouth, felt taken aback.

‘Damn. Because of the accent, it feels like I am conversing with an old friend from home.  Did he say translation magic?  Such a strange spell exists?”

The accent he was hearing was mixed with a genuinely unique inflection that was part of the Yang-Ju region’s dialect.  However looking at the shape of Shrekheimer’s mouth, he was sure that the other person was speaking a different language.  He was adept at the Lip reading technique(TLN:독순술(讀脣術)) so it wasn’t difficult for Dok-gosong to realize this.

“First, the Truvania continent we live on was made by the main god Belhazel-nim who controls the entire universe.”

The birth myth of Truvania started coming out of Shrekheimer’s mouth.  As expected of a pious priest, Shrekheimer explained it from the perspective of a clergyman. He turned every glory towards the main god Belhazel.  As a person from Murim who had put his life on a sword, he was a bit uncomfortable but this person had shown him sincerity.  Therefore, Dok-gosong patiently waited while listening to Shrekheimer’s explanation.

“So to sum up your words, this Truvania continent has similar races(TLN: different race but humanoid) other than humans living on it.  Over a hundred years ago, a similar race called the orcs and the humans fought in a big war that bet life and death of the race.”

“Correct.”

Dok-gosong was able to understand many things from his explanation.  In a word, this place was incomprehensible to a person from the Murim.  Both of them were from a radically different world and it wasn’t easy for him to comprehend.  First, the most incomprehensible thing was the monsters called orcs.
According to Shrekheimer’s words, the orcs had a small stature with a pig’s head.  From the perspective of a person from Murim, they were merely creatures that were monsters.  This crowd of creatures fought on equal terms with the humans for a 100 years and this truth was hard for Dok-gosong to comprehend.

“However, you have to believe me.  Even though the orcs’ strength and stamina is inferior compared to humans, instead they have amazing reproductive ability and growth speed.  Most orcs are able to fight and hunt before their 1st year.  They grow that fast.  For humans, they have to be at least 15 years old before they can hold a weapon, so it can’t be compared. ”

“This is  unbelievable. The existence of creatures that dare to threaten the human’s stronghold…”

“This is the truth.  Especially the orcs, they have great reproductive abilities where one stomach contains around 10 babies.  If they are provided enough food then their numbers would increase exponentially.  It is enough to refill the numbers lost in battle.”

“….”

“Through the orc’s unique attributes, the humans were in danger of being annihilated at the time.  It was a spring where there was a reckless war of attrition going on.  The orcs were sufficiently able to reinforce their lost warriors, but humans were hard pressed to expect the same thing.  Because of that, the humans lost most of their territories and continued to lose. It was a grim situation that was hard to even think about.”

At the time, Shrekheimer participated in the war as a young teen as a new appointee.  Therefore he could clearly explain the brutal situation to Dok-gosong.

“The despicable orcs watched us isolated inside the castle while they partied using the fallen warriors and the prisoners. After watching them cook a person that was alive over the fire, we thought the history of humans were over.”

“You are saying the orcs ate the humans.”

“Yes.  During the race wars, they did this to everyone prisoner without caring for their station.  In the winters, they would eat even their own race. Therefore, if a human was caught alive then they would be cooked on the fire and used as ration.  However, we couldn’t do the same.  We couldn’t eat the orcs so we immediately killed those we caught.  Still for a brief time when our food situation had worsen to a critical level, the soldiers had no choice but to eat the orc meat.”

Shrekheimer reminiscenced about the old memories and he started becoming farsighted.  However Dok-gosong had a different thought at that time.

‘I wonder what the orc meat taste like?  At Zhongyuan, the best quality meat was the meat of a baby pig raised eating off of a human’s tits.  So an orc that grew up eating human meat…”(TLN: >.<)

An agitated delayed sound was emitted from Shrekheimer and Dok-gosong wasn’t able to think too much on it.

“Right then a savior appeared in front of the humans.  In the spring, the strongest being in the continent showed up.  He was the Grand Sword Master Crossen.”

“Crossen?”

“Yes.  In the past 100 years history of the humans, he was the strongest amongst the humans. He was the most talked about and complicated person. He was this generation’s best soldier of fortune.”

At Shrekheimer’s voice that was starting to heat up, Dok-gosong could tell how much he worshipped Crossen.

“His activities immediately flipped the tide of war.  That person was an extraordinary person that the likes had never showed up in the 1000 year history.  He was worthy enough to be called a hero.”

“What this did person achieve…”

Dok-gosong glanced at Shrekheimer and he started explaining without keeping silent.

“If you want to know about his achievements, then you have to know this first.  This is about each race’s Tablet of Oath.”

Shrekhimer explained about the Tablet of Oath that was passed on to each race by Belhazel, and he emptied all the secrets about it to Dok-gosong.  The mysterious gems that kept the balance between each race was in the hands of each race, and the myth that said the races would eternally be blessed by Belhazel.  This wasn’t the type of information that Dok-gosong couldn’t easily accept.

“That is surprising.  There are gems in existence that has that much inner power…”

“The Tablet of Oath was a sublime treasure that each race wouldn’t trade anything for.  Therefore even thought we were being brutally defeated, we gave our lives to protect the Tablet of Oath. However, Crossen Magnus accomplished the feat of stealing orc’s Tablet of Oath.  He was able to punch through the couple thousand hand-picked orcs that were on security.”

“Mmmm.”

Dok-gosong murmured to himself.  He couldn’t believe that the gems were able to control the prosperity of each races, but looking at Shrekheimer’s pale face, he couldn’t say otherwise.

“At that time, he was the king of Crossena kingdom.  Over here, the name of the country becomes the name of the king.  Therefore, no one knows his true name.  However, it is true to say that there is no one in Truvania continent that could take him on in terms sword skills.  This is something that everyone knows even now.”

At the desperate moment, he took the Crossena kingdom’s elite knights and he was able to infiltrate to the heart of the orc race.  He went towards the impregnable fortress that was guarded by couple thousand elite orcs.  Soon a desperate fight broke out. Crossen Magus personally led the Crossena kingdom’s elite knights in the desperate struggle, and in the end, the orc’s elite troops were annihilated.  Afterwards he was able to steal the well-hidden Tablet of Oath.

“This was the most important incident that decided the progress of the war.”

Under the hero of the century, Crossen Magnus, they were able to steal the orc’s Tablet of Oath.  No one can deny that this caused the war, which they were losing, to be overturned. In the case where the Tablet of Oath was stolen, it meant that they couldn’t receive the protection of Belhazel.  Just this one act dropped their morale to an unimaginably low level.  The orcs had primitive intelligence, so it could be said that their belief in the Tablet of Oath was unconditional.  The orcs warriors were very brave and cruel.  However the theft of the Oath of Tablet caused them to degenerate into simple monsters.  This information was spread on the battle field, and the human’s morale peaked unlike the orcs.

” Oh soldiers. Now Belhazel’s blessing is with us.  This grace is something only we can enjoy.  Let us dry up the seeds of the orcs who were excluded from Belhazel’s blessing.”

it was Crossen Magnus’ great achievement.  Because of him, the human soldiers unlike before were able to overwhelmingly fight back against the orc race.  Of course, he and his knights would always fought as the vanguard of the army.  The war continued for 20 more years.  After the brutal war ended, the humans were able to destroy the orc’s main forces.  To survive they had to hide in the corner south of the Felucia mountain range.  The humans were finally able to  assimilate the land that were governed by the orcs as their new territory.  After explaining everything, Shrekheimer’s showing a regretful expression.

“Therefore, the Truvania continent was able to find peace again. However that peace did not last long.  Afterwards, two calamities happened.  Those events damaged the human realm and it could be said that the damage was almost fatal.”

According to Shrekheimer’s words, Truvania continent became the sole stage for the humans.  To say it again, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say the victory was achieved solely by Crossen Magnus.  He was a figure that was great, and he was an existence shrouded in mystery.

“It was never known where Crossen Magnus was born or where he had learned his swordsmanship.  According to the people around him, the truth was revealed that he was a figure from a different dimension that had crossed over to this world through a coincidentally opened dimensional door.  Except for that, nothing else is known.  We had a hunch that he was from where you are from, Zhongyuan.”

Dok-gosong’s forehead started furrowing.

“So this Crossen Magnus is a warrior of Zhongyuan.”

“I believe so.  The proof was the fact that there are numerous sword masters existing in the place called Zhongyuan.  We were able to confirm it with our eyes.”

“What do you mean by Sword Master?”

“It refers to a martial artist who has trained for a very long time and has the ability to condense the mana onto the sword and armor.  Aura Blade.  To say it again, a sword imbued with mana can slice steel like daikon.  The practitioner that could perform this ultimate skill are called Sword Masters.”

‘I have no idea if he is talking about Gum-gi or Gum-gang'(TLN: 검기Gum-gi or maybe 검 = sword 기 = qi is imbuing various items with your qi, 검강 Gum-gang is a form of gum-gi that makes the qi really sharp)

Dok-gosong fell into his thoughts for moment.  Soon he was interested in the hero from 50 years ago, Crossen Magnus.  After hearing that he might be a gosu(TLN: expert) from Zhongyuan, he couldn’t help his curiosity that abruptly increased.