Chapter 492

"My back went out. So, I was carried to Lijai on Arta's back. 'Ugh...' 'Are there really such fools in this world...' Luna sighed deeply as she held a hot towel to my back. She must have heard Arta's story about trying to pull out a tree with his bare hands. 'Mother... If I use Tiamat... I can get better...' Although there is a problem that anger is necessary, I am quite familiar with using Tiamat. Can't I draw out the sacred power of Tiamat from my own anger at my foolishness and the resulting anger towards myself? -Woong -Snap! 'Ugh!' When I summoned Tiamat while lying down, Luna slapped the back of my hand. 'Did you forget not to use the relic?' 'This is an injury...' It's an injury that can't be helped, so can't I use it a little? When I turned my head slightly to argue, Luna shook her head sternly. 'No. Reflect on your foolishness and rest for a few days. What if your back was broken?' 'No... I can recover quickly anyway...' Even if I move my body for a moment, it feels like my back is screaming and I'm going crazy. Luna pressed the hot towel on my back and said, 'Stop it! Isn't it easy to think that you can recover easily? Isn't that why you can get hurt easily?' 'Ugh! Please, help me!' She let go of my back and looked at me. 'Even if the wound can heal easily, there is no one who can be hurt easily.' '...' 'Don't think it's natural to endure pain to achieve something. It's your weakness.' Somehow, it seemed like she was worried about my heart, not my body. Whether it was because my attitude of enduring pain too easily was pitiful or worrying, or because I looked really pathetic. In the end, I rested for a few days, lying down as Luna instructed, without using Tiamat. I also thought about what it meant to take pain for granted because it was easy to get out of pain. Somehow, the day when Ellen stabbed my heart kept coming to mind. * * * I lay down for about three days. It was a sudden rest, even though it was due to an injury. Although it was an injury that could be healed immediately by using Tiamat, I thought about Luna's words that it was not easy to get hurt easily for those three days. Luna and Ronan both checked on my back. It was like physical therapy, and it felt like it hurt more before it got better. Honestly, I almost went crazy. Thanks to Ronan's treatment and my basic physical strength, my injury completely healed in three days. 'Honey, go with Reinhardt.' 'Oh, okay.' He attached Ronan to me again, probably thinking that my back would go out again." Translation:

Summary of previous part of chapter only for context: In this chapter, the protagonist Woong injures his back and is carried to Lijai on Arta's back. Luna, Woong's mother, tends to his injury and suggests he use Tiamat to heal. However, Luna slaps Woong's hand when he tries to use the relic while lying down. Luna insists that Woong rest and reflect on his foolishness for a few days. Woong thinks about Luna's words and realizes that he has been taking pain for granted. He rests for three days and undergoes physical therapy from Ronan. Eventually, his injury heals completely. Reinhardt is attached to Woong again, probably to prevent another injury.

Translation of Korean text:

"Am I now seen as a reckless fool who can't even cut down trees properly and ends up hurting his back?"

Somehow, he didn't mind being treated that way.

* * *

When they arrived at the forest where the logging was completed, Ronan stood by the tree stump that caused Woong's injury.

"We're not pulling out the entire tree."

Ronan began digging around the tree stump with a shovel, scraping off the parts that weren't caught in the roots.

After digging a fairly wide area, the deep roots that were buried in the ground were revealed. They repeatedly dug and used a pickaxe to uncover the entire root system, which was terrifyingly deep compared to what was visible on the surface.

"Do you realize how ridiculous your plan was?"

"...Yes."

Ronan began cutting the deeply embedded trunk with an axe.

How much time had passed?

Soon, Ronan shook the stump with the pickaxe a few times and pulled out a huge tree stump.

"This is how it's done."

"Um...I'm not sure if I can do it properly. Let me try."

Logging required some skill, but this seemed to require even more.

After logging, they had to pull out the roots of the trees.

Ronan seemed to have shown enough of a demonstration, throwing away the tree stump he had pulled out.

Honestly, it felt like there was nothing more to see since I had already seen it once.

But I became curious.

"Um...Father?"

"Why, do you want me to show you again?"

"No. It's just that I'm curious."

I pointed to another tree stump of similar size to the one he had just pulled out.

"Can you show me how to pull it out with strength instead of like that?"

"...?"

Honestly, I was curious. Could Ronan do it?

He was definitely a much more skilled person than me.

"Well...even if I do it like that, can you follow along...?"

"Have you never tried it before?"

"... "

Ronan looked at me hesitantly.

Oh, did I cross the line?

Suddenly, Ronan rolled up his sleeves.

Ronan Artorius.

Maybe he's a simpler person than I thought?

So far, he didn't seem to use any power, including magic enhancement, and it seemed impossible for an ordinary human's strength to pull out the tree roots.

It was similar to what Arta did, and what I had recently started using.

Around Ronan, however, there was no blue light like that.

But just by looking at him, it was clear that Ronan Artorius was trying to use tremendous strength.

It was enough to make my skin crawl just by watching.

"Hup!"

-Crunch!

In my case, my back was broken, but Ronan's case was different.

It was as if the entire ground was being lifted up, and something was breaking and snapping in a chain of sounds.

-Shwook! "He pulled out the giant tree from the ground with his bare hands. The broken and twisted roots of the giant tree were hanging down. Ronan threw the tree roots he pulled out with his bare hands and looked at me. 'Can you do it?' 'No, not at all.' The human excavator was here. After Ronan showed me twice, he left and I tried it myself. In conclusion, I could do something similar to Ronan's feat. I could exert maximum output by hitting the magic power as much as possible. 'Hoo.' I released the magic power enhancement by throwing the tree roots I pulled out. I could pull out the tree with maximum force. It is certain that my strength is not inferior to Ronan's. However, I cannot be satisfied with this level of strength. What if I could achieve a more stable magic power enhancement state and exert maximum output? I would have a power that is dimensionally different from now. So, first, I will pull out the tree. Then, I will dig up the ground. It has already been quite a while. But I have to take the next step by melting time again. Concentrating my mind, maintaining a stable state for magic power enhancement. More stable, more precise. For more complete power. I thrust the shovel into the ground. The work of pulling out the tree roots required more time than logging. Due to the nature of the work that required digging the ground deeply, and because I was not familiar with it, I had to go through trial and error. But the more time I spent, the more progress I could make. And the more time I spent, the more my concentration increased. At some point, Reinhardt was able to maintain a refined magic power enhancement state throughout the entire process of starting and finishing the work. 'It's better not to disturb him, right?' Lena asked Arta while watching Reinhardt digging from afar. 'I don't know if I can even if I try to disturb him.' Lena and Arta, who came to talk, were watching Reinhardt digging the ground and cutting the tree roots with an ax from afar. 'I thought he was a strange guy when I first came, but the more I see him, the more I realize he's a tough guy.' Arta shuddered as if she would faint. Reinhardt, who was concentrating on his work like a person with his eyes and ears closed, behaved as if he could only focus on what he had to do, no matter what was happening around him. Terrifying concentration. And immersion. Arta could no longer keep up with Reinhardt's concentration state. Lena turned around and looked back at where Reinhardt was. 'What the hell made him like that?' Although he succeeded in concentrating his mind, there was an unmistakable urgency in all of Reinhardt's actions. Lena and Arta both knew that." Reinhardt's behavior showed a desperation close to madness as he focused on pulling out trees and roots and pursued the next step. Lena and Arta were amazed by his terrifying concentration and immersion in his work, but they didn't know what was driving him. They both thought it would be better not to know. It was getting colder as autumn approached.