Not Just Simple Bull Fighting (I)

"Kim Yangwon...The current King, he's here," Seunghyuk mouthed out and the leading elder Nighthowler's eyes went wide but he immediately composed himself right after and greeted the whole house as courtesy, surprisingly, following the British way of royal greetings, then Seunghyuk bowed along, while pushing Jisung's body downwards to force him to bow as well, "Good evening his Majesty, the King, and Duke Travessle, today my contestant here will kindly grace the Royal Recommendation Event."

"You're absolutely welcome. Do not be bothered by my presence, I am only here to see if everything is working well," The King spoke with a slight smirk, only Seunghyuk and Jisung, together with the other four elder Nighthowlers could see it as the royal members sat right in front the King, and so he continued, "Since a King's position is of paramount importance and holds the most responsibility, we must pick out elites from the elites by giving them tasks of suitable difficulty to test their abilities."

The whole house was quiet except for the King's loud and clear voice, and to know that the difficulty of getting recommendations from royal members have been set at a higher setting, Seunghyuk smiled on the surface, but he knew that he had just landed himself in hot soup. If he does not find a way to escape, he would most definitely be scalded.

"O-ho-ho, I was not expecting another contestant of the Throne Tournament to stop by here for Royal Recommendations! Now, since our gracious King himself is here, I shall let him select the three tasks. After all, all these contestants are to be challenging him himself, how could he not pick out the best fruits amongst the farm?" Duke Travessle made himself visible by standing up, tapping and rubbing his large and round stomach like he was flaunting his abundance stored in that tummy storage of his.

The rotund Duke Travessle turned back to face Kim Yangwon, the current King of the Nighthowler Kingdom of Arkawarenia, sitting proudly like a peacock spreading out its colourful feathers to assert dominance. Even if he knew that sitting on that throne had tainted his beautiful feathers with many, different shades of red, he did not hesitate to show the side of him to others.

"Thank you Duke Travessle. If I am to logically think of a task suitable for someone who might take the throne in the far future..." The King intentionally put strong emphasis on the word "far" like he was trying to tell Seunghyuk that he would never get to sit on the throne anytime soon, but Seunghyuk continued to look at the King unfazed while listening as the King continued, "...That task must be a task that I as the King had completed before, and for the first task to test on the contestant's fighting ability, I believe he has to try taking down the Mechataur without any Conqueror Magic Enhancements."

After the King finished, the four elder Nighthowlers standing behind Seunghyuk almost stared with their eyes so widely opened that they were reaching the point of rolling out completely. The whole House of Travessle suddenly went from respectful discussions to complete, utter silence, like the mood in the form of a balloon in the air was suddenly cut off with a sharp knife, letting it rise up and disappear, leaving only shock and disbelief lurking behind.

"My...My King! This task...It had overstepped some set boundaries...I...I do not think this task is very much appropriate..." Duke Travessle was similarly dumbstruck by the King's suggested task and tried to advise the King against the idea due to the high level of difficulty of just the very first task, but knowing the King's arrogance, he obviously made Duke Travessle go with the idea, "Duke Travessle, I believe this is still appropriate. If I am able to slay a Mechataur, why would the contestants not?"

Duke Travessle seemed to have many things to say, but the King's gaze were those of a hungry eagle that stared deep into the Duke's soul, like it was a needle poking through a balloon at the specific point, hoping not to cause the balloon to explode, so immediately, the Duke stopped trying and with a face of helplessness, he motioned for the guards to prepare the Mechataur.

"Your Majesty, I have no issues with the task given at all, but I do have a burning question. Would I be allowed to voice out my thoughts?" Seunghyuk spoke at the most pretentiously formal tone that he had ever spoken in his whole life, but considering the world had changed to fit the Conqueror era, it did not come to Seunghyuk as so much of a shocking thing.

"You may voice out your question, contestant," The King replied in an equally pretentious voice, because the King had of course known Seunghyuk in the real world, the mad chasing stretching from outside Arena Mightchaser, up over the wall, all over to the long path leading to the spiral staircase, but now, however furious the King was, he was not able to directly get rid of Seunghyuk, so all these ingenuine communications are going to be as normal as the oxygen Seunghyuk breathes in when he stepped into Arkawarenia.

"Your Majesty must have slain the Mechataur before, and I assume you've had the power to use the kingdom's Conqueror Magic Enhancement artefacts and weaponry?" Seunghyuk asked, making his tone raise slightly and hanging his brows up high like he was actually interested, but sadly, the King did not buy it that easily, "You do not seem genuinely interested, however, since you asked, I'll answer it gladly. The kingdom of Arkawarenia boasts Conqueror Magic Enhancement artefacts of many kinds and I can proudly say that we own one of the best set of weaponry in this field. I definitely had the chance to wield all these weapons and use all these artefacts however I want, and the feeling of slaying the Mechataur with one of the most powerful Conqueror Magic Enhancement blade in Arkawarenia was simply the best."

After all that talk, Seunghyuk had thought his plan had fallen through, but the King was silly enough to take the bait by himself. Seunghyuk was planning to win at least ten Royal Recommendations over, but preferably not by completing the three tasks flawlessly, but by creating a distinct comparison between himself and the King, so that Seunghyuk would be able to influence the royal members' thoughts. Everything was made to sound so easy from Seunghyuk's thoughts and plans, but when people think the next line is going to be "it was harder than what it sounds like", it is not. On the contrary, Seunghyuk found the execution of the plan as easy as the plan itself, so he took the first step forward, laying out the skeleton of his plan.

The King still smiled to himself obliviously, continuing to think that Seunghyuk was just a small fly that happened to come in between his palms, and just a simple clap will be able to squash the fly flat. Even when it was clear the King's underestimation would lead to his downfall, he continued to think that it would not happen to him.

"So...Your Majesty...If I did not hear things incorrectly, you defeated the Mechataur with one of the kingdom's best Conqueror Magic Enhancement weapon, so did you by any chance have a great tale to tell about the time you fought and won a Mechataur without Conqueror Magic Enhancements? I am sure I would be pleased to hear all of them!" Seunghyuk tried again to sound completely innocent like a small kid trapped in his own world of happiness and purity, basically Seunghyuk was trying to be an over-exaggerated Jisung.

Seunghyuk's tone and facial expressions were that of pure innocence, but the words were like a hidden dagger in one's sleeves, coming out so sharply and quickly. It was the blunt sharpness that sliced a direct mental wound open on the King's brain, rendering the King completely speechless like the cat has got his tongue.

"...Your Majesty...? Oh...I'm sorry, maybe the Mechataur was too difficult to be slain without the kingdom's best Conqueror Magic Enhancement blade, hence you would not have any tales to tell..." Seunghyuk looked down, his voice full of remorse but his hidden face was smiling with enjoyment.

"CHOI SEUNGHYUK! You-!" The King risen abruptly from his seat and hollered out while pointing an accusing finger towards Seunghyuk which acted like a pusillanimous little mouse shivering under pressure, then everybody turned their heads to look at the King in shock, shocked that the King knew Seunghyuk's name in full, shocked that the King suddenly directed hate at Seunghyuk, so Duke Travessle immediately tried to calm the King down, "Your Majesty...The contestant is new here and he does not know..."

The King's anger that burned like a wildfire in his eyes suddenly went out, then his entire scrunched face of furiousness slowly released all its built-up tension and the King took his time to sit back down. The King knew what Seunghyuk had did to him, made him so infuriated that he had lost control over his feelings. The King, however, only thought that Seunghyuk had wanted to anger him for his own fun and that was it, but he did not think far enough to notice Seunghyuk's intentions. Everything was going according to Seunghyuk's plan.

"Le...Let the contestant in...and make sure he is not equipped with any Conqueror Magic Enhancement artefact or weapons while he fights the Mechataur," The King ordered while trying to mask his awkwardness with dominance and Seunghyuk was led to the combat space right next to the main room in House Travessle.

Seunghyuk stepped into the whitewashed combat space, and thought about how crazily huge House Travessle was to be able to accommodate a whole entire combat space of at least the size of three football fields. However, the huge space was the least of his worries and whatever that was invading his thoughts in the form of worries was nothing other than the three-metre tall Mechataur.

The Mechataur inhaled and exhaled mechanically, steam instead of oxygen and carbon dioxide gets breathed in and out by the mechanical bull. The Mechataur was built out of complete inanimate objects, but was somehow made alive and breathing, it was something that Seunghyuk had never seen before in his whole entire life. One step at a time the Mechataur moved its humanoid body forward slowly, like it was analysing Seunghyuk with its blue eyes, then it just stood there without any intention to kill.

"Contestant Choi Seunghyuk...That's a weird name...Are you a half-Nighthowler like the King? Yes, alright, it is stated here," The Duke's voice travelled through the uniquely shaped speakers that were hanging about in midair like it was supported by gravity itself which seemed absolutely unthinkable that the Nighthowlers have also found a way to manipulate gravity itself, "I believe you can hear me, contestant, and please, if you are ready turn into a Nighthowler and clap your hands above your head."

Seunghyuk nodded to the empty air behind him, and then turned his attention back to the hulkinh Mechataur. Seunghyuk used his skill and shapeshifted into a Nighthowler, taking the time that his body was transforming to quickly formulate plans in his head. Seunghyuk could tell and read from the King's agitation and dissatisfaction that at that time, even with the help of the legendary Conwieror Magic Enhancement blade, the King still had troubles fighting against the Mechataur, so he had to be extremely cautious with whatever he was doing. The combat space was completely closed off, so neither Seunghyuk nor the Mechataur could escape unless there is a winner.

"Okay, let's mess this robot thing up!" Seunghyuk said to himself when his whole body turns into a full Nighthowler then with his body shaking with excitement and trepidation combined, he swung both his hands from his side up and clapped above his head.

At that instant, the Mechataur's analysing blue eyes flashed for a quick second and lit up with an angry colour of red. The killing intent suddenly became palpable and Seunghyuk quickly made use of the Nighthowler's extreme speed to distance himself from the murderous Mechataur.

When the distance was made, the Mechataur ran forward like his body weight felt like nothing and swung a huge metal arm at Seunghyuk. Seunghyuk definitely knew danger when he sees one, so he quickly slid under the Mechataur's huge arm to the other side, looking like he went right through the Mechataur's arm with the insane speed he was moving at.

When Seunghyuk was starting to feel happy that he had dodged the first attack, his gladness immeidtaley disappeared into thin air like it was never there in the first place. The Mechataur retracted his robotic arm from the white wall of the combat space and turned to look threateningly at Seunghyuk, leaving a huge crater on the wall just with its fist.

The magnitude of the attack was a huge shock to Seunghyuk, which replaced all the confidence in Seunghyuk's heart with fear. The Mechataur was not tired out from the big attack it unleashed at all, and continued to hunt Seunghyuk down without even needing to take a breather.

Seunghyuk watched as the Mechataur nears him motionlessly, while the King sat in the main room looking at Seunghyuk's misery through the cameras smiling to himself thinking: He should be dead by now, he would not be able to complete this task anyway.