The growth type hidden class, Aura Master, brought the potential of aura to the extreme.

Hurent’s aura exceeded the level of merely strengthening weapons or amplifying the power of a skill. He could freely convert aura into a certain weapon or release it as a dragon’s breath. In fact, he could even leave an aura marker on all living creatures and summon aura at that point, causing all types of variables in combat. Yes, there was no limit to an Aura Master. Hurent was strong.

Several years before the Reidan invasion, he had already been beyond the category of a player. At the time, the S.A Group had assessed Hurent’s strength as the same level as Kraugel’s, which had been several times higher than the Grid of that time. That’s right. Hurent was one of the five people that Lim Cheolho called the Five Miracles.

However, Hurent later met Grid, who had achieved rapid growth, in the 1st National Competition. Hurent’s Aura Master class hadn’t been completed yet, and he was defeated in a futile manner. After that, his reputation was low compared to his skills.

In fact, Hurent’s popularity had only been during the early days of Satisfy, and now he was no different from junk. There were few people who remembered Hurent after he left the rankings a few years ago. If they did remember him, it was often as the ‘five seconds’ person.

“You are the same as us....!”

Hurent’s strength remained intact. No, he was a few times stronger than before. Haster’s ‘us’ referred to himself, Grid, Kraugel, Agnus, and the other top players.

“Who is ‘us’? Aura Snake!”

Years ago, Hurent fought Piaro and was forced to join the field work. Now, he carried grain and worked the hoe under the scorching sun, causing him to go through an extreme growth. His muscle strength was like Grid’s, his improvisation was like Kraugel’s, and the ability to control his aura like it was a living creature was like Agnus’.

Hurent’s aura took the form of a snake, flew from his fingertips, and moved through the fields. The path that the aura snake took in the abundant wheat field was difficult to see and predict. It was a form of attack which couldn’t be evaded or defended against. However, Haster’s great hearing ability led him to using Ice Curtain and accurately blocking the snake.

“You aren’t trash.”

Hurent didn’t just do field work. As soon as the day’s work ended, he ran to the hunting grounds and steadily raised the level of his aura skills. He marveled at the solidity of the ice barrier when faced with the aura that dealt 9,900 fixed damage and ignored the target’s defense. 

Now Hurent paid attention to Haster’s name and face. “You were a professional golfer?”

“Gamer!” It was a lowly provocation, but Haster couldn’t help falling for it. His excessively high pride was the problem. Haster, the idol of many youngsters and the myth who had never lost, couldn’t help falling for the cheap taunts. He was unfamiliar with the rough handling and couldn’t overlook this. Thus, he used Dance of Redemption and missed something. It was the black mark on the ice barrier that was still being maintained!

“...?!” Haster was trying to create a stone pillar with Dance of Redemption when his face wrinkled like a piece of paper. There was a slight cracking sound from the ice barrier on his side. Aura that was as sharp as a knife protruded from it.

“Keuk...!” Haster managed to avoid it but had to stop Dance of Redemption. It was a missed opportunity to take the lead in this fight. Haster was urgently moving when new aura entered his vision.

“Oh, I forgot to warn you in advance. My aura leaves a mark, so you should be careful. The entire land that you are stepping on is filled with my marks.” 

Dozens of threads of aura spread out from Hurent like a spider web. The grey-haired man had a pleasant expression that didn’t match his age. Of course, it wasn’t pleasant for Haster who was trapped in the spider web. 

“Why are you under Grid?” 

From Haster’s point of view, Hurent was an unexpected variable. He never dreamed that there would be a monster like Hurent under Grid, who already had many famous people. Haster also couldn’t understand why Hurent was interfering with him.

“No way...!” Haster’s movements became increasingly agile as he blocked the aura threads with a shield and struck with his sword. His response speed was becoming faster as he heard the unique sounds of aura in his ears. “This is Grid’s will!”

Haster was reminded that there were some things he shouldn’t overlook. It was that Asmophel was Grid’s subordinate and Kraugel was Grid’s friend.

‘Grid knows about me!’

It was for certain. Grid had found out about Haster’s existence through Asmophel and Kraugel.

‘He judged that in order to maintain his top spot, he needs to keep me in check! That’s why he ordered Hurent to interfere with me!’

Haster smiled as he grasped the situation. He felt proud that the Overgeared King was worried about him and acted to keep him in check.

“It feels good! I finally feel that I am in the right place!”

Rivals were needed. The greater the rival, the more his desires and talents would be stimulated. Haster was burning with motivation when an aura spear aimed toward his side. It was a spear that emerged from a mark on the ground. Hurent looked at Haster, who heard the sound and blocked the aura with his shield.

Then Hurent asked, “What are you saying alone? You believe that I am under Grid? That isn’t the case.”

“I already know the situation! You don’t have to deny it!”

“Hey, I’m not! A young person like you is already losing his hearing!” Hurent was furious due to Haster’s misunderstanding. He still remembered the humiliation of dying in five seconds. From the standpoint of Hurent who was planning to repay his grudge against Grid someday, being called Grid’s subordinate was a huge shame. “I just want to repay Piaro for his kindness!”

Snake, spear, sword, thread—the relatively simple forms of Hurent’s aura started to make a special change. They gathered together like flames.

[Aura Impact is being used.]

[Accurately imagine the shape of the aura within 2 seconds. If there is even a small error in the image, the skill will fail.]

Hurent never neglected image training in order to bring out the true power of an aura master! He shouted loudly, “Super! Dragon’s Roar!”

[You have pictured a dragon’s breath! By reproducing the power of a transcendent being, the power of your aura is greatly increased!]

[There is a limit to the power that a unique rated aura can exert.]

“...!?”

There was a big difference due to the restrictions of the aura rating, but it was a dragon’s breath. The emission of aura flames was fast and widespread. It was a form of attack that made Haster’s sharp ears and agility obsolete.

‘He can stop it once or twice, but it is impossible for him to endure the pouring pressure forever.’

The dragon’s breath had been upgraded from when Hurent used it in the past. It was a multi-stage fire skill which could be maintained for five seconds. There was a fixed minimum damage of 9,900, and the maximum damage could go as high as 306,900.

It didn’t matter if the target’s defense was 10,000 or 100 million. For players with an average health of 100,000, they would die as soon as they were hit by a dragon’s breath.

[You have dealt 9,900 damage to the target!]

However, Haster didn’t defend and allowed the breath to hit him. Then an orange shield surrounded his body. This was Heroic Story, one of the strongest passive defense skills which activated once all conditions were met.

[All resources have been restored by the effect of the passive skill, ‘Heroic Story.’ For one minute, your defense will increase in proportion to the amount of resources used within the past two minutes. Additionally, a shield that negates all types of skills and magic damage will be maintained for 10 seconds.]

“What...?” 

Hurent had used the mid to long range of the aura to completely constrain Haster’s movements and dominate the battle. Yet, for the first time, Hurent was now losing his composure. The dragon’s breath that he poured out was blocked by the original shield, and it felt like he was possessed by a ghost.

‘A skill that invalidates damage?’

No, such skills normally had a limit on how much they could defend against. That alone was powerful enough to be a scam. It could completely overturn the battle by blocking the enemy’s ultimate move in a timely manner.

‘However, his shield has no limit...!’

A chill went down Hurent’s spine as he determined that Haster’s orange shield was still standing against the dragon’s breath.

‘Is this an OP shield that invalidates all skill damage for a certain period of time?’

It was an unreasonable strength. This was certainly...

“The seven malignant...!”

“That’s right. You haven’t got one yet? You are late.”

Satisfy was terribly fair. Players had to give up one thing to gain another. Haster saw that Hurent had met Piaro and missed the timing to obtain the seven malignant saints quest.

“The gap will widen in the future.”

Now was the time for payback. Haster taunted Hurent before raising his shield and rushing to Hurent.

“Too shallow!” Hurent avoided Haster’s shield by tilting his upper body and prepared to insert an aura thorn. Still, the aura thorn developed with Aura Impact failed to penetrate Haster’s orange shield. 

“It is the end,” Piaro muttered while watching the fight with Singuled. He saw Haster moving through Hurent’s aura thorn and swinging his sword.

At that moment...

“The reason why Hurent used farming tools was for the development of his swordsmanship,” Piaro said meaningful words.

Hurent dropped the sokuri and pulled out a sword to block.

“...!?” Haster was baffled by the move. ‘What is this defensive posture?’

Such movements weren’t possible with just reflexes and control. It was clear that there was a compensation effect from a high-level Sword Mastery skill.

‘How high is his Sword Mastery level?’

Haster was confused by this Hurent, who had turned into someone else, and forgot… Hurent had been a candidate for becoming a Sword Saint!

“Super sensitivity!”

“What?”

***

Simultaneously, Grid was working in the smithy...

‘...Wait? Is it possible to use the goddess’ blessing on Pagma’s Swordsmanship itself instead of a specific sword dance?’

Grid’s blood pressure was rising from the triple casting, and he took a break. Then he got a new idea. His ears felt ticklish as he had the thought. Swallowing down his curses was nothing new.