Game of Divine Thrones

Chapter 79: Greatsword Tinia 2

Silvia.

She was an excellent Soul Enchanter, a buffer class that could link several different individuals using magic chains, so that they would get recognized as a single entity by the system.

When the effects were used on monsters, several adjacent monsters could be damaged at the same time with the use of a single skill. Moreover, item and buff effects could be shared with allies.

Therefore, Soul Enchanters were considered useful and Woohyuk used to think highly of Silvia in the past as well.

‘She was an expressionless girl.’

Despite her cute face, she didn’t have many friends due to her reclusive attitude. She was most probably greatly impacted by Tinia’s death.

As he rode on his horse towards the army, Woohyuk recalled the words of the female bartender.

‘Windstorm Tinia…’

A female warrior who hacks her enemies apart by rapidly swinging her greatsword and creating a whirlwind with it. He had to find out what kind of dangers she was exposed to in the past.

Before long, he arrived at the citadel city of the Arpen region. Woohyuk headed to the base camp of the Blue Hawk Mercenaries.

“State your business.”

A demanding young but muscular man with threatening eyes and a ferocious expression stood in Woohyuk’s way.

However, Woohyuk didn’t recoil and answered.

“I wish to meet Tinia.”

“The leader? Do you have a request for us?”

“No, I wish to join the Blue Hawk Mercenaries.”

Since their destination was the same, he could just let Tinia take him under her wing to avoid any of the annoying affairs.

“What? Pfthaha. A twig like you wants to become a mercenary?”

“My skills are better than yours so don’t worry about that.”

“...I don’t understand how you can be so confident. Alright, if you truly think so, I’ll give you a chance.”

As he smiled, he grabbed the axe on his back and brandished it.

‘Get my approval to meet Tinia’, or so he meant.

Woohyuk silently stared back at him.

‘Seems like convincing him with words will be difficult.’

He had already expected a hostile response and was prepared for armed conflict.

Taking the lack of time into account, he couldn’t back off now.

Once Woohyuk made his decision, he drew Grandia from its scabbard. He instantly dashed up to his opponent and placed the blade against the latter's neck, at a speed the axe-wielder couldn’t follow.

The young man’s face instantly hardened.

“Ho-how… You…”

“I don’t have time to explain.”

Woohyuk’s gaze exuded strong intent. A strong oppressive intent that held his opponent’s heart in his grasp that could tighten at any second.

As the young man nervously swallowed his saliva, a feminine voice resounded from behind him.

“What are you doing in my territory?”

Silver hair that reached down to her waist. Amethyst eyes that shone like gemstones. A clean jawline and a fully developed, voluptuous body. It was Tinia without a doubt.

‘No wonder all the men admire her.’

Despite her gorgeous appearance, she exuded the charisma of a leader. Woohyuk pushed the man facing him away and approached Tinia.

“I request for an admission test.”

“...Is that it? How boring.”

Tinia’s expression turned bored and her hand reached for the greatsword on her back. The weapon had a crude appearance, reminiscent of that of a Zhanmadao.

Around the long blade, a vortex made up of a turquoise aura was swirling around it.

“Well then, should I test out your skills?”

With a single swing of her delicate arm, the turquoise aura sprang forward like a storm and swept towards Woohyuk. It was a devastating blow that felt overpowering.

Clang!

However, Woohyuk lightly swung Grandia and blocked the turquoise aura.

Seeing his easy-going obtrusion, Tinia made a curious face.

“Interesting. You’re a lot stronger than you look.”

“Do I pass the test?”

“It’s not over yet. Truthfully speaking, you’re strong enough to join us, but I want to see your true power for myself.”

A grin drew on Tinia’s face as she raised her greatsword again.

A warrior’s pure fighting spirit.

Realizing she was messing around, Woohyuk silently waited for Tinia’s next move.

Clang!

She leaped in the air and violently swung her greatsword diagonally and the turquoise aura swirling around launched forward.

It didn’t look any different from the previous attack, but Woohyuk sidestepped instead of blocking it head on.

Bang!

A deafening crash resonated when the colorful aura found its way to the ground, and created a deep crater.

Tinia aimed her sword at Woohyuk’s head, but…

Clang!

Sparks flew and the sound of metal colliding echoed.

“Hmm, I guess you won’t go down with this much.”

Tinia steadily landed on the ground mumbling to herself. She turned her head towards Woohyuk and stared at him.

Her gaze was fierce as flames danced in her eyes.

Her body and mind trembled in excitement from meeting an unexpected opponent who could potentially match her strength.

“Use your full power. Otherwise, my burning passion will die out.”

“That’s a great proposal. Let us settle this fight and designate a winner.”

Tinia bent down and dug straight towards Woohyuk’s insides.

At a speed invisible to the naked eye.

However, the attack was futile as her blade was once again interrupted.

Clang!

Woohyuk slightly had the upper hand in this fight.

Tinia also knew that fact, but her face didn’t crumple in frustration. On the contrary...

‘Now!’

She widely smirked and activated the rune engraved on her greatsword. A turquoise vortex ran up her blade and soared into the air!

It was Tinia’s signature move - Dragon Ascent Slash.

“Surrender if you don’t want to get hurt. Even you won’t walk away unscathed after taking this head on.”

“I refuse.”

“...So cool. You’re exactly my type.”

With a great leap, Tinia fell back and swung her greatsword.

Guoooooooo!

An unstoppable vortex that gradually spun faster flew towards Woohyuk with a deafening roar. It was an attack that was hard to face directly, but Woohyuk didn’t falter and brandished Grandia again.

‘I’ll need to use my demonic energy a bit.’

He released the energy within him and wielded it like an aura and extinguished the vortex with a single swing of the sword.

Booooom!

Tinia’s eyes grew wide as the energy surrounding Grandia erased the turquoise aura headed towards Woohyuk.

‘He blocked my Dragon Ascent Slash that easily?’

It was an attack that she prided in as a one-hit kill move. She obviously didn’t think he would die from it due to his strength, but she did expect grave injuries.

While Tinia stood dumbfounded, Woohyuk instantly ran up to her and grabbed her delicate wrist that held onto the greatsword.

“Ah…”

“Why don’t you admit your loss already?”

Woohyuk had an emotionless expression, as he didn’t find the same excitement in this fight as the warrior Tinia’s. He had only battled her in this 1 on 1 fight to prove his strength to her.

“Alright, I lost.”

The greatsword dropped onto the ground and a heavy, metallic sound echoed around.

She had unexpectedly admitted it very easily. Woohyuk nodded.

“Then let us make a contract.”

“...Just why did you do this? Someone of your caliber shouldn’t need to join our mercenary group.”

“There are some personal circumstances.”

It was a bit hard to explain it to Tinia since he was hiding his true identity. At his lack of explanation and short but concise words, Tinia let out a small chuckle and started laughing out loud.

“Don’t tell me you have a crush on me as well.”

“...No I don't.”

“What a pity. I wouldn’t mind a one night stand if it’s with you.”

She quietly whispered in his ear as she leaned onto him.

“I decline.”

“Don’t hesitate to tell me if you change your mind later on. I just love strong and blunt men like you.”

He had gained her affection quite easily.

Woohyuk clicked his tongue and inserted Mana into the Memory Pendant.

‘I should begin already.’

He would most probably find useful information by searching around Tinia’s memories. He could also learn what her current problem is. As he activated the Memory Pendant, a clear scene played out in his head.

‘This is…’

A battlefield.

Actually, no. It was a burning village.

A disaster that had occurred when an army of monsters unexpectedly swept in one night.

Tinia stood at the center of the scene with a silver-haired girl next to her.

‘Silvia.’

He had previously heard that Silvia was a war orphan. She was originally from the Eeth continent.

He had a very hard time turning her into his vassal in the past as she rejected working with other adventurers.

It might’ve been because her blood-related sister had died in battle in the Witch’s Forest and had left her behind; alone to fend for herself.

Woohyuk was staring at Silvia through Tinia’s vision when the ground shook and a low rumble resonated.

Thud!

Thud!

It was an Elite Cyclops the size of a mountain, an opponent the two girls would never face.

“Krraaaaa!”

The cyclops approached them and brandished its spiked club as it let out a blood-curdling cry.

Death was about to drop down upon them.

Slash!

With a sudden sound, the cyclops was cut in half at its waist.

“Are you alright?”

A young man with fiery red hair lightly swung his greatsword to shake off the dirty substance on his blade.

A mercenary with heavy plated armor.

Woohyuk made a puzzled expression at his appearance.

‘It’s the weapon Tinia uses.’

Although it looked dirty and crude, the engraved runes proved that it was no ordinary weapon.

It was at least B-grade or higher.

The man was most probably skilled enough to wield this high-grade weapon.

As Woohyuk observed the situation silently...

“Then why isn’t your body rejecting me? I’ve been sticking to you for quite some time now.”

A warm breath tickled his ears.

“...”

Before long, he was outside of Tinia’s memories, and his forehead creased.

During the short while when his attention was elsewhere, Tinia had been running her hands all over his body and mocking him.

‘I should choose better moments to peek at her memories.’

He needed to somehow find a way to buy enough time to watch Tinia’s memories without getting disturbed every time.

He hurriedly separated himself from Tinia and started walking away.

“Let’s talk about the details inside.”

“...Looks like the people around us are making you nervous. Alright, I’ll tag along if you want to play around secretly with me inside.”

Tinia followed behind him as she sweet talked all along.

It was unclear if she was making sexual innuendos or not.

However, he had to take a glimpse at her memories everyday since he had to learn what she knew, so he had to stay by her side.

As he received the envious gaze of the axe-wielding young man, Woohyuk opened the wooden door and entered.

***

As he expected, Tinia was in a troublesome situation.

Her influence in the Arpen region had dwindled due to the domination of the Eclipse Clan. The reason why she was recruiting talented mercenaries was to make up for their disadvantage against them.

Of course, that didn’t mean she had absolutely no feelings for Woohyuk.

‘She’s a bit too extreme to call her a beauty.’

He sighed as he gazed upon Tinia, who had appeared in a maid outfit. They were currently in Tinia’s bedroom.

To explain how they arrived here is a bit complicated.

‘I’m pretty sure she said she’d guide me to my own room.’

As the sun set, he followed Tinia to her house. He gladly followed her as she had invited him for dinner. So who would’ve thought things would escalade like this…

“Since it’s just you and me, you can be honest now. I’m fully prepared.”

“Just why did you wear that maid outfit?”

“You don’t like it? I wore it specially for you. The other guys liked this appearance though.”

Tinia sat on a seat and flirtatiously crossed her legs. A black-laced garter belt peeked out of her dress.

‘She really doesn’t know when to give up.’

Silvia would definitely misunderstand should she see this situation.

It would be problematic for him if his relationship with Silvia turned sour, so Woohyuk stood up from the bed immediately.

“I’m feeling hungry. Is dinner ready yet?”

“...I’ll prepare it now. But I have a question before I begin.”

Tinia bent her waist and looked up towards Woohyuk.

Her voluptuous chest and a deep cleavage was visible as the neckline stooped low, but Woohyuk’s gaze did not linger there for even a single second.

“What do you want to know?”

“What clan do you belong to?”

Tinia’s gaze instantly turned sharp.

Her hidden wariness lay bare.

Woohyuk showed the ring on his finger at that question.

“The Ragnarok Clan. I’m the Clan leader. This symbol should prove my point.”

The ring of solidarity he was wearing showed the wearer’s rank and clan information in real time.

As a clan with a tier 10 gold crown, an emblem made up of an X, a crown and the clan’s name was engraved on the ring.

The system had made it impossible to forge it, and Tinia nodded at the sight of it.

“I see. Now, tell me the real reason why you came to our mercenary group.”

“I need your help to look for a certain item in the Witch’s Forest.”

“What is it?”

“Medusa’s Bronze Mirror.”

“...It’s the first time I hear about it. Are your sources reliable? And why are you moving on your own without your clan members?”

Because she had taken a liking to him, she wanted to take this opportunity to learn of his intentions for sure.

Before she could hear his answer, the door swung open and a fragile-looking woman with silver hair barged in.

“I’m back… Who’s this man?”

It was Tinia’s little sister, Silvia.

1. A “Horse Slaying Sword”. Wikipedia link for more details: