The Return of the Talented Monopolist is Special

The return of the talent hoarder is special – Chapter 12 (12/320)

“…?”

The head butler, who had been watching the children’s backs, furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Yujin Rober, what are you doing? Are you giving up?”

“No. I’m not giving up.”

Yujin pressed his ear to the left wall and held his breath.

‘I can hear it.’

While the butler tilted his head in curiosity, Yujin looked down beneath the ice lake. The reason for his actions was simple.

‘I need to figure out the locations, types, and patterns of the magical traps.’

‘I have to check if the magic traps I experienced in my past life are still the same, or if the patterns and locations have changed.’

Splish, splash…

The sound of the children swimming in the water could be heard.

And soon after,

Click, click…

The sound of metal devices being loaded echoed.

Whoosh!

The sound of something being shot through the water also rang out.

How could such a faint sound be heard?

Thanks to Mukwang.

With his enhanced senses, Yujin could feel the movements in the water without seeing them.

About 10 minutes passed.

Unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, the butler finally asked.

“No, what on earth are you doing…?”

“Shh!”

Yujin knew that he couldn’t miss a single detail.

The butler scratched his head in embarrassment.

Most of the other children would likely figure out the traps as they encountered them in the ice-cold water, but…

‘I don’t need to do that. I already know half of the answers.’

There was another hidden feature of this trial.

‘Among the traps, there’s a place where I can learn the basics of the Crowded Two-Sword Style.’

Though he hadn’t experienced it in his past life, Yujin had recalled it from the stories of those who passed the Lion’s Trial. It was a top-secret piece of information shared with him while he was the commander of the Sun God Church.

As he looked into the distance, he saw the children briefly coming out of the water to catch their breath.

“Haah!”

“Brrr! So cold!”

Of course, they were shivering in the cold but didn’t notice Yujin standing at the starting line.

As he continued to analyze the characteristics of the traps, Yujin noticed someone coming out of the water.

“What’s this? You?”

Eldora, who had emerged from the water, glared at Yujin.

“…What?”

“Why are you doing that? Are you giving up?”

“Mind your own business and keep going.”

“Don’t tell me, you’re trying to figure out the traps’ characteristics from there, right?”

“…”

Her sharp guess hit the mark.

“So what? What do you think you’ll hear? There’s a time limit, and the difficulty increases over time.”

As Eldora had said, the trial had a time limit of about 6 hours.

It seemed that she found Yujin’s choice odd.

“Or is it because you’re just too cold? Trying to warm up your body?”

“Why do you care so much about me? Just go!”

“Care? Don’t be ridiculous…!”

Eldora turned her head sharply and dived back into the water. With her aura, she could probably handle this level of cold with ease.

Finally, Yujin jumped into the water as well.

Splash!

The moment he did, he thought,

“Ugh, even now, this is really brutal.”

The bone-chilling cold immediately assaulted him. His teeth started to chatter.

Additionally, the water was much darker and deeper than expected.

Even just swimming in this ice-cold lake for an hour would make anyone susceptible to hypothermia, significantly slowing their movements.

The other children would likely use thin layers of aura to stave off the cold.

Of course, Yujin hadn’t wasted the years he spent. During his training with the Tughwi, he had done countless exercises to maintain his body temperature in freezing waters.

His plan was to use mental strength and a minimal amount of aura to fight off the cold.

Splash!

“Ha!”

Taking a deep breath, Yujin began diving.

Among the training he had undergone in the past few years, horseback riding, swimming, and breakfall techniques were all included.

As if trying to make up for the 10 minutes he had spent outside the water, Yujin swam through the water at a fast pace.

For most, swimming in cold, dark water filled with sharp traps would be terrifying.

‘But I have Mukwang and the memories of my past life.’

Just as he was swimming deeper into the water, he…

Click…

A faint sound of metal being moved came from the bottom left.

Of course, Yujin knew exactly what it was.

Screech!

What was shot was a large harpoon.

Yujin instinctively twisted his body to avoid the harpoon.

It wasn’t difficult. He had already analyzed the position, speed, and direction of the harpoons before they were even fired.

Click, screech!

Click, whoosh!

From the upper right, left, front, and rear.

With the sounds of activation, five or six harpoons were shot, but Yujin avoided them all.

He twisted his body to dodge one, lowered his head to avoid another, and bent his body to evade yet another, continuing to move forward.

As he went on, the water in the lake grew colder and darker, but Yujin didn’t pay it any mind and swam on.

Soon, he caught up with the others who had fallen behind, and their silhouettes became vaguely visible.

There were about three of them.

The three who had been leading the pack were startled when they saw Yujin approaching from behind. His speed was simply too fast.

“…!”

“Get out of my way.”

Yujin flicked his wrist, signaling them to clear the path.

They snickered and ignored him at first, but Yujin smirked and easily overtook them.

And soon…

Click, click, click, click…

‘Here it comes, continuous harpoons.’

As soon as he entered a certain area, the sounds of harpoons being activated came in rapid succession.

Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech!

The moment the largest and sharpest harpoons in the ice lake were triggered.

The rapid-fire harpoons fiercely targeted Yujin.

He immediately took evasive action.

With swift and graceful movements, he dodged the harpoons that aimed for his head, body, and limbs, as if performing a delicate dance.

Some harpoons he avoided completely, while others he deflected with his arm, altering their direction.

The rapid-fire harpoons had a set pattern, speed, and trajectory.

Already aware of these, Yujin was able to avoid the harpoons with ease.

‘The acrobatic techniques Gungui taught me are coming in handy here.’

Acrobatic techniques (曲藝運).

This term referred to movements resembling acrobatics used to dodge attacks like arrows.

The movement was elegant and fluid.

‘Using acrobatic techniques in the water, my skill level is improving rapidly.’

The three who had been watching Yujin’s movements from behind stood frozen in awe.

‘No way…!’

‘This is insane…! Does he already know where everything is coming from?!’

‘He dodged all of them…!’

For over ten seconds, as the harpoons rained down like a storm, Yujin swam through them without getting hit, effortlessly pulling ahead.

The three stood motionless for a moment before making their decisions.

“Ugh… I can’t do this!”

One of them panicked and started swimming back toward the starting point.

“Let’s do this…!”

“We’ve come this far!”

The other two overcame their fear and charged into the area where Yujin had just passed, where the harpoons were fired.

But soon…

Slish!

“Gah…! No… I can’t, I can’t do it!”

One of them had a harpoon impale his leg and immediately fled toward the surface, desperately swimming upward.

The remaining one, however…

Whoosh, whoosh…

He managed to follow Yujin’s movements and avoided the harpoons, but…

“Huff, huff… I… I need air. I can’t breathe…!”

He began to slow down, his movements becoming sluggish due to the lack of oxygen. He hadn’t paced himself properly.

He couldn’t understand how Yujin was dodging all the harpoons and still swimming forward so casually.

He needed to get to the surface as quickly as possible.

But…

‘What is this! The surface is frozen…!’

There was no way to breathe.

‘Gah…’

His consciousness slowly began to fade.

At the same time.

“Bro! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. For now.”

Ains and Janes communicated with each other using gestures and mouth movements as they swam in the water.

They were leading the group of twelve, at the front.

The Ince brothers, far ahead of Yujin, had initially been intoxicated with the fact that they were in first place.

Moreover, they had trained countless times in environments that simulated this kind of situation, environments orchestrated by their family.

It was a training program designed by Sirius.

‘Back then, I didn’t understand why we were being made to do this, but now I get it.’

Though they didn’t say it, Sirius had essentially leaked the details of the trial.

But now, the Ince brothers were in trouble.

“Ugh…”

Janes had been hit by a harpoon in the left leg within the continuous harpoon zone.

Fortunately, Ains barely avoided it, but he was still worried about his injured brother.

However, there was hope.

“Bro! Over there! Over there!”

“Ice cave…! If we just get past there, we’re good!”

An ice cave appeared ahead of them.

“Let’s climb up for a bit and catch our breath…”

“Yeah…!”

The Ince brothers nodded simultaneously and were swimming toward the surface.

“Hello, friends?”

Despite being underwater, a cute voice somehow reached their minds.

Startled, the Ince brothers quickly looked around and discovered a white seal with clear eyes staring at them.

***

Yujin continued to move forward.

He had passed two or so kids by now. Ahead of him, he guessed, were Rauler, the Ince brothers, and probably Eldora.

After passing through the rapid-fire harpoon zone, it was a battle of endurance and mental strength.

It was all about how long one could withstand the cold and how long one could hold their breath.

To be honest, it wasn’t easy.

Of course, it wasn’t because his “mental strength was weak.”

It was simply because to execute the strategy he had planned when entering the ice cave, he needed to use as little of his aura as possible.

However, Yujin clearly felt something.

‘In this extreme situation — cold water, holding my breath, darkness in front of me — it actually feels like I’m growing faster.’

Using the techniques he had learned from his martial arts masters, his proficiency, strength, focus, mental power, and stamina were rapidly increasing.

He was growing with every moment through the Lion’s Trial.

‘Hmm?’

At that moment, he noticed a faint red hue spreading through the water ahead.

Yujin quickly realized.

‘Blood. Someone’s been injured. Probably that damn Lion spirit.’

And then, a spirit appeared before Yujin as well.

“Hello, my friend?”

Something appeared behind him.

It was a white seal.

The seal wagged its front flippers and smiled brightly.

“You’re on your way to the ice cave, right? I’m the spirit guiding the way in the Lion’s Trial.”

Despite being underwater, Yujin could hear its voice, probably some form of magic.

“You don’t have to be suspicious. I was hired by Jade and even took on a false name…”

“Damn bastard.”

As Yujin mouthed a curse, the spirit tilted its head.

“…?”

Yujin gritted his teeth.