After the world underwent a massive change as the Great War ended and superhumans appeared, many people might think that a place like ‘desert’ could be easily conquered by humanity. However, they were wrong. Those places which were rarely visited by humans had also been turned into a much harsher place by some kind of mysterious and unusual energy.

Each desert on Earth had a special trait, and for Kalahari Desert, its traits were ‘heat that scorched even superhuman’ and ‘sand that could even trap superhumans’ ankles’. They were both very terrifying traits.

Of course, SS rank and SSS rank hunters were exceptions to those rules.

Seol Jungyeon noonim and Taylor Nine were able to traverse the Kalahari Desert without any difficulty. Noonim even used a very strange way of walking. She just lightly touched the surface of the sand before her feet sank into it.

‘Both of them are really amazing…’

Unlike them who walked gracefully without even breaking a single sweat under the blistering sun of the desert, my feet kept sinking into the sand whenever I stepped forward. Fortunately, with the help of Flower Pot, the heat didn’t affect me that much. But still, the exhaustion was considerable.

When we were wandering through the desert aimlessly, a huge claw suddenly rose from under the sand. It was a classic attack from a B rank monster called ‘Sand King Crab’, who always hid beneath the sand to ambush its prey. It was quite troublesome of an opponent.

Swoosh!

Noonim waved her hand and instantly, the claw was neatly cut in two.

“Wow….”

I could only exclaim in awe at her display. It was truly a work of art.

Not only that, Noonim and Taylor also took care of any monsters that had appeared. Noonim took care of all the monsters who attacked from the ground such as Sands of Hell and Sand King Crab. While Taylor took care of monsters which were flying in the sky or launching their attacks from a distance, such as Rain Scavenger and Stingray.

What did I do while they were fighting? I did nothing and just walked. Since both of them could do everything on their own, there’s really nothing I could do.

‘Am I being protected, right now?”

“Hey. What are you standing there for? Have we arrived yet?”

“Huh? Oh, wait a second.”

As I closed my eyes and focused my mind, I felt the power of the system seeped into me.

<We are getting closer. There seems to be a ‘passage’ nearby.>

‘Okay.’

Albeit faint, I could also feel the distortion of the dimension as well. Could this be because I had repeatedly traveled between dimensions?

“It’s there. I could slowly see it.”

“Uh? Really? Where?”

Taylor took a sunglass out of her pocket and put them on. Could she really see better by wearing those?

“Ah, I see it now.”

On the other hand, Noonim slightly frowned and checked the direction I was pointing at.

At the place we were looking at, a single black tombstone stood. It clearly didn’t match the overall ambience of its surroundings. The closer we got, the stranger it seemed.

“It’s suspicious. My detective intuition is speaking to me.”

“Is that so…….”

“Murim is inside of this thing?”

“It wouldn’t be, Noonim. You will know once you go inside, but first…”

Presumably, the tombstone in front of us was an entrance to a ‘deformed dungeon’, and anyone could enter it as long as they had learned a simple ‘unlock’ type of magic, a magic skill that could open an entrance or a superpower related to unlocking it. It didn’t really matter though. Because the most important thing for me was to feel the energy of the tombstone and enter it.

Just by standing in front of it, I could feel the distortion of dimension inside, but anyone who had opened this place and entered must have felt the power of the devil itself.

As the black tombstone opened with a screech, the space leading to the dungeon shook. It was a sight that could be seen dozens of times a year while hunting, but it was still unfamiliar because what was currently unfolding before me was that of deformed dungeon.

The inside of the dungeon was, to be honest, mediocre; An endless red space which covered every corner of the world. It was all steep cliffs and mountain ranges which seemed to not permit any human intrusion. However, no living creatures could be seen anywhere in this world.

“If it’s only this much…” It was boring. I was someone who had entered a dungeon full of poison mist, or even a dungeon that took place in the deep sea.

We walked for a while. It was only common sense that deformed dungeon worked differently from a normal dungeon. But it was my first time entering a deformed dungeon which didn’t have any monsters inside of it.

After walking for such a long time, a temple came to our view. It had no characteristics or personality except that it was larger than a normal temple, just like those temples commonly seen in books.

Then, suddenly, the phrase ‘commonly seen in books’ bothered me.

<In any world, demons always take similar form.>

‘Is that so…’

As we entered the temple, we could see a very large cavity and a ten-story high altar stood on its centre. I could also feel the distortion of the dimension even more vividly.

“We are going to start now.”

After climbing up to the altar, Seol Jungyeon noonim and Taylor changed into protective clothing. Wearing tight black suits and helmets, they looked like bikers running down the road at night.

<Let’s start.>

Currently, the portal was half-closed and twisted, which would make the physical body unable to go back and forth. Only the soul could go through it. Though, it was still impossible for souls to come and go freely. But stabilizing it was simple.

I put my hand on the altar, and part of my lifeforce was being consumed.

Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Suddenly, a golden glow burst out, and a soft, jelly-like sphere appeared on the altar.

“Is this… the portal to another world?” Taylor admired the look that was quite different from the portal of a dungeon. It’s the first time I’ve seen something like this too, but I shrugged like I’d seen it a lot.

“Fuhhhh.” Seol Jungyeon noonim was taking a deep breath. She must be carrying a heavier load on her chest than me and Taylor. But since I didn’t know anything, I couldn’t comfort her.

“Let’s go.”

I grabbed their hands. No matter how much lifeforce was spent to create the portal, if we were separated, the location and time period we landed on could be different.

Chichijik, Chijijik-!!

Eventually, when we collided with the portal, the world trembled and it was impossible to distinguish which direction we were facing. The front became the back and the top and bottom became one, and time itself staggered…

The wind suddenly brushed my cheeks.

“Huh!”

It was the first time for me to move in such an unfamiliar way, so even I was trembling with vertigo.

‘What about Taylor and Noonim?’

Worried, I looked back before hurriedly looking in another direction.

Both of them were here and were admiring the changed scenery, but…

“This is…Murim…”

The place we arrived at was a dense forest with a thick foliage above. When Taylor slowly crept into the nearby tree, I hurriedly stopped her.

“Hey, cover yourself.”

“Huh? Oh yeah.”

As I said that, Taylor looked at me blankly. There was no hint of embarrassment on her face. It seems that she was asking for the clothes I had kept in my inventory. With a sigh, I handed the silver robe with a golden dragon embroidered on it, which I had decided to wear in Murim, to her. And then I turned around and saw that Noonim was also looking at me from a distance. She was not embarrassed, either…

“Noonim, please cover yourself… please…”

I don’t know why these women were so insensitive. I mean, is it my share to be embarrassed? I hurriedly took the white uniform she wore earlier from my inventory and handed it to her. And then I also changed my clothes. A black suit wrapped around my body and over it, I wore a dark black coat that reached my knees. I really liked the simple design that my clothes offer, it was not much different from what I wore in reality. I tightened my belt and looked at Taylor.

“Hey… How do you wear this?”

“This is crazy….”

Taylor was quietly hugging her uniform and smiling bashfully.

“Help me wear it.”

“Sigh… Only this time okay? Memorize what I show you.”

“Good good.”

After many sighs, I approached Taylor. With quick movements, I put her robe on, then, Noonim came to mind. Shouldn’t Noonim be the one who helps her? When I looked at Noonim with that thought in mind, she was looking in my direction with somewhat subdued eyes.

“Wha..what’s wrong?”

When I asked because I thought I had committed a crime, Noonim smiled faintly and shook her head.

“Nothing. Now let’s move. I want to see the village.”

“Okay.”

Just like that, our outing in the Martial Arts world began.

* * *

After running for several days through a cliff that seems to reject human footsteps and an enormous waterfall that seems to separate the world in two, we finally arrived in a village deep inside the forest.

“Hey… it seems that the culture here really resembles China’s. Now I understand the reason why they were so adamant.”

However, they were only similar, and if someone had seen the Chinese culture and history, they might have noticed the subtle differences between the two.

‘By the way, wouldn’t silver hair stand out too much?’

Noonim had platinum blonde hair which was slightly mixed with the colour of sunset, while Taylor had dazzling silver hair and a unique eye colour. Because of that, everyone passing by was looking at us… or at least that’s what I thought…. but when I looked around, there were surprisingly many people who didn’t have dark hair.

It was easy to find brown or blonde hair, as well as green eyes. The skin colour was also very diverse, so it was easy to see the black and yellow-skinned Murim people pouring alcohol in the tavern.

Well…. It seems that the reason why both Noonim and Taylor had received attention so far was simply because both of them were too beautiful…. I’ll have to tell both of them to cover their faces later.

“Noonim, were all people of Murim behave like this in the first place?”

“After the earthlings arrived in Murim, many things have changed. I don’t know too much about it, but I assumed it must have been due to the influence of the Earthlings.”

“Ah…”

In fact, I heard that people from all over the world of various nationalities and races fell on Murim and had devoured them with their overwhelming growth power.

“By the way, what are we going to do now?”

“First, we need to find out where this is. Wherever the demon’s body is, there must be a characteristic. I also have to ask around about it…”

I slowly looked at Noonim.

“Also, we have one more important thing to do.”

“Ugh… So, first, how about we go to a tavern and eat something?”

“Tavern?”

“Huh, don’t you know about it? When you read martial arts novels, didn’t they get information from the tavern like every single time? Isn’t that a cliché that shows up almost every time?”

I heard Taylor’s words and decided that it was true that we need a place to sleep tonight. Following her advice, we moved to the nearby tavern. Most of the taverns also function as an inn, and of course they provide meals.

As we entered the tavern, I sat on one of the empty tables. Then Taylor immediately raised her hand and shouted.

“Excuse me, please give us your menu!”

I covered my face because of her behavior. I was really ashamed.

“You bastard, how in the world would they have a menu here…”

“Yes~ I’ll be there soon~!”

“….Huh?”

A waitress suddenly answered Taylor’s words in English. It seems that Taylor was joking when she said it, so, when she heard the answer, she jolted up and looked at my eyes with her eyes wide open.

After a while, a waitress really brought the menu, and we checked it out with clear skepticism in our eyes. Chicken Sanjeok, Spicy Chicken Feet, Pork Belly, Cheese Ball Skewer, Ginkgo Skewer, Asparagus Pork Belly Rolls (Special!), Stir-fried Udon Noodles, Hot Sweet and Sour Pork, Fantastic Pork Belly Rolls…

“Come on, wait. Why is the menu like this? Where is the Grilled Duck, Somen Noodles, or Bamboo Leaf Alcohol?”

Somen Noodles and Bamboo Leaf Alcohol were the most basic items available in any tavern in the martial arts world. No, in the first place, it was correct to say that there was virtually no other choice than those two foods.

Then, the waitress looked at me with pitiful eyes as if she was looking at an outdated old man.

“Who in the world sells such a thing these days? You are not trendy.”

“….”

“Our restaurant has developed a dish by pinpointing a selling point that many Murim people like! On the first page, would you please look at it? Self-complacency! We have etched it into our hearts and always do it! How about ordering the ‘Jadongseong Rib Steak’?”

(T/N this may not make any sense… But the author really wrote Self-complacency…)

Me, Noonim and Taylor, opened our mouths in awe at her fluent vocabulary.

Turns out, this world was not the world of martial arts that we knew.

In other words, this was the World of Martial Arts novels.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep