All the ambition and murderous intent is on my side. This punk came here to commit murder and robbery but is totally unprepared. Was he really planning to destroy someone with such a lightweight attitude?
What a jerk!
Trash like this deserves to die!
“Ahhhhhh!”
In that moment, as the warrior from the Assassin’s Room wailed in agony, my sword cut through his shoulder.
The guy was completely consumed by fear and didn’t even try to fight back until the very end. I couldn’t help but think of myself in that moment. If I don’t fight in this Martial Arts World and entrust myself to these thugs, I could end up dead just like this!
—Swish!
The Heavenly Thunder Sword given to me by the Namgoong Clan was on a whole different level compared to the cheap sword I was using.
Simply by channeling my inner power and executing the Flowing Stream Sword Technique, the blade sliced through flesh and bone as easily as a butcher’s knife.
—Thud.
But at some moment, blood gushed out violently and my sword stopped. My swordsmanship wasn’t powerful enough to sever his upper body’s bones completely, but honestly, that’s enough to kill a human.
Nevertheless, the Flowing Stream Sword Technique didn’t stop.
I twisted the blade embedded in his upper body to the side and sliced hard.
—Swish!
I pulled the sword out beside his ribs. With that brutal follow-up strike, half of his chest and the arm connected to it fell off. It looked like a trimmed chicken wing. Or maybe like I detached the arm of a robotic assembly?
“Huh!”
In an instant.
I mean, in a flash, I just butchered a guy. It was so gruesome it made me want to vomit just by watching.
But unlike before, I felt no shock or overwhelming heartbeat. Could it be because I was using the Cold Mind Technique? Or maybe because I’ve gotten used to it? I didn’t even really feel tired. If I became accustomed to killing, then I’d certainly be a monster.
“…”
I exhaled and looked back.
“H-hey…!”
“Take him out in one blow!”
I could see the two of them stop as they were about to charge in.
At first, they seemed to react to my attack to support their comrade, but when they saw the guy, Hwasa, went down way faster than they imagined, and then my brutal swordsmanship shocked them.
I deliberately held up the fallen humans’ arm, no, the severed arm, for them to see.
Disgusting, but what I needed to do here was to create the most fearful impression possible to break their morale and increase my chances of winning.
In other words, a tactical move.
“Hey guys, one of your friend’s arms has fallen off! Oh man, just look at all this blood spilling out.”
“Ugh, ahhh!”
“What a crazy bastard!”
As I swung the arm to scare them, the two immediately turned and ran away.
Running away.
Running away, huh?
“Hahaha!”
Seeing that made me burst into laughter.
How could this trash punk, who peddled revenge for thieves, flee at the sight of one dead guy?
The sheer absurdity of trying to destroy someone with a mind like that blows my mind!
Indeed, punks like this just need to be killed. They’re no different from demons. No, if you think about it, being monsters that wear human skins and eat other humans makes them far worse than ordinary demons!
Would I, Madunachal, the killer of Madunachal, let these punks off the hook?
—Whoosh!
I executed the Cloud Flow Body Technique.
While running vigorously with Serin, I achieved some progress. I could run faster and longer than when I was a third-rate fighter, meaning I could definitely catch up to those punks.
Their morale and fighting spirit were mine to consume entirely.
There’s nothing easier than catching an enemy with their back turned!
—Swoosh!
I was getting closer and closer to the two of them.
This was a deadly game of tag, or rather, a game of deadly tag.
It was on a whole different level from a child’s game at a playground!
“Dieeeee!”
“Ugh, ahhh!”
Among the running punks, one who seemed to be a leader hastily drew his sword to face me.
“Y-You! Oh Su-man! This bastard! Hurry up and take him out!”
He yelled, but the other guy, the one with a grudge against me, Oh Su-man, just ignored him and kept running. It seemed rather ironic when I thought about it. Ultimately, two unrelated people ended up dead!
While still running, I gathered my strength and unleashed the Flowing Stream Sword Technique again.
“Wha, what?!”
The warrior from the Assassin’s Room saw my ferocious technique and tried weakly to defend himself, attempting to back off and create distance.
“A-are you a master?! Please, spare me! I was just…!”
Foolish.
Even though he was in a situation where we had to draw our blades and kill each other, he was begging for his life. I felt great satisfaction from this foolish reaction.
A guy like him would be easier to kill while securing my own safety.
“Assassin’s Room! Are you aiming for me?!”
“Th-that…”
“Go tell your boss what I’m about to say!”
In that instant, I pretended to sheathe my sword as a bluff.
“If you aim for me, I’ll kill every last one of you! Got it? Hurry up and tell him before I kill you!”
“Y-Yes! I understand, my lord!”
As soon as the warrior from the Assassin’s Room turned to run, I unleashed all my concentration and struck with my sword right into his back.
—Thrust!
The blade penetrated his back and came out through his chest.
“Uh, uhg…!”
His groans weren’t long.
I swiftly pulled out the blade, and he fell limp.
“What a stupid bastard!”
The explosive killing intent was collected.
This stupid punk probably didn’t even understand what he was doing. The weight of committing murder and robbery against someone. And the idiocy of trusting an enemy during battle.
Nothing about it was normal.
Because of this damn idiot, two people ended up dead…!
“Damn it!”
I irritably rifled through his pockets, pulling out anything that could be valuable. There was no way I could catch that bastard Oh Su-man who fled. No matter how much faster I was than a third-rate fighter, there was no way to catch up given the distance.
More than that, having killed two guys must have taken a toll.
—Thump, thump!
Fatigue and weakness came crashing down on me.
“Huuh, huuh!”
I utilized the Cold Mind Technique to control my breathing and recover my body. While doing so, I didn’t stop looting. I was able to collect over 300 coins and a couple of cheap swords from the corpses of these demon bastards.
Originally, I planned to go out tomorrow.
Just tomorrow, I would go outside with Jaemi Son to hunt some demons and earn this much money to have drinks and enjoy a meal at the Gongbo Estate.
But I just easily earned that much money.
Just by casually committing murder for one night.
Something is seriously wrong here.
So much that it feels irreversible.
“Those damn punks!”
Anger surged within me.
Why do I have to kill people thanks to these bastards…?
“Yeah… Mr. Song probably wouldn’t let something like this shake his emotions.”
I quickly collected my thoughts while thinking about Mr. Song.
If he was the man I knew… he wouldn’t pay any attention to such trivial matters. He’s a true swordsman.
Once I finished tidying up, I went directly to find Jaemi Son.
Now that I had made enemies with the Assassins’ Room bastards, I couldn’t stay in this city any longer. I needed to say goodbye to Jaemi Son and run away.
I arrived at Jaemi Son’s inn, but for some reason, it was in an uproar.
“Could it be…?”
A bad feeling crept in as I immediately opened the inn’s door.
“Hey!”
“Cough…”
I found Jaemi Son sitting on the first floor.
There were two dead bodies sprawled in front of him, and blood was flowing from his strange injury.
“Jaemi Son!”
He was not looking too good.
“What happened here during the night?”
“Looks like you got ambushed too?”
“Yeah… judging by what happened to you, sounds like you were too.”
His voice sounded quite worn out.
“Jaemi Son, I’m sorry for dragging you into this. I was ambushed on my way here. These bastards came looking for revenge against me.”
“Revenge…? Explain.”
“That’s just the thing.”
I explained to Jaemi Son about the gang of thugs we had encountered before and how the survivor had brought a group of dark men with him.
“Cough… Even if they are just worthless thugs, they must have a motive… That’s the way the Martial Arts World works, Geunhyeop.”
“Damn it…! But I didn’t expect them to ambush you too!”
“They probably figured out that I was your friend.”
I had drawn my enemies into my precarious situation. Killing a few dark punks would hardly hurt me, but the fact that I had put my friend in danger was enough to blacken my heart.
“I’m sorry.”
When I apologized, Jaemi Son shook his head.
“It’s fine. We are Anhwi Slaqhak.”
“You bastard…”
Anhwi Slaqhak, huh?
“Thanks for saying that.”
I spoke, holding back the overwhelming emotion swelling inside me.
Jaemi Son is a true man.
You are indeed the swordsman I acknowledge.
“Anyway, Jaemi Son. What do we do now? I heard those bastards came from the Assassins’ Room.”
Based on my deduction, these guys must have dabbled in dark gambling and lost everything, becoming slaves. Although it didn’t catch much attention in Korea, over in South America, many people had become slaves, rising to a social issue.
The so-called ‘dukkha’ are said to have their heads shaved and are forced to labor for life with no clothes for the rest of their lives.
“Assassins’ Room?”
“Do you know about them?”
“Cough… Of course, I know them. A small dark faction located in this area… Their strength is insignificant, but if I killed four of them, including the two that died, then I’ve made implacable enemies already.”
Implacable enemies.
“Unless we kill their leader or show overwhelming strength, this will never end…”
So it seems we’ll have to face that.
“So we have two choices… We either kill them all or run away… Let’s hide and come up with a plan first.”
“What? Come up with a plan?”
“I’ll lend you a hand… They tried to kill me simply because I was your friend… With that, I have become an implacable enemy. Because they tried to kill me, this is no longer just your problem, Geunhyeop. This is now my problem too.”
“Jaemi Son…!”
This crazy bastard really has my back!
“Thank you, Jaemi Son! You are truly my friend!”
“So what’s it going to be?”
Jaemi Son’s eyes sparkled.
“Running away? Or fighting?”
Through his hair, which reminded me of a game protagonist’s braid, his intense gaze pierced through me.
With the same determination I had when I decided to kill Madunachal.
Jaemi Son was asking for my choice.
“Ha.”
I couldn’t back down now.
How could I even think about running away in front of a true swordsman like him?
Taking a deep breath, I answered firmly.
“Of course it’s fighting, Jaemi Son!”
“Heh, hehe, kuheheh!”
Jaemi Son burst into laughter, holding his belly at my answer.
“Just like I thought, you’re the crazy bastard I admire! Hehehe!”
“Like it’s a question.”
“But Geunhyeop, if we’re going to fight, we have to be ruthless from here on out.”
Although Jaemi Son seemed like a scatterbrained guy, he was actually a true warrior with a cold side. I wasn’t foolish enough not to understand his words.
“I’m already ruthless.”
“Well then, that’s good. Let’s hide for a bit…”
“Got it.”
Just then.
“Oh dear, esteemed guests!”
The innkeeper appeared.
“Oh.”
Wait a minute.
For some reason, I felt like I had become one of those classic martial arts novel characters, causing a commotion in an inn, leading the owners to shed blood tears at the sight of the mess!
“I must apologize for the ruckus, but nothing has been broken… aside from the blood splattered everywhere. I’ll cover the cleaning fee.”
“Can you please dispose of the bodies somewhere?”
Were the bodies the pressing issue here?
“You can just dump the bodies… let’s move.”
“Right.”
I immediately started disposing of the bodies with Jaemi Son. Doing something secretive with a friend felt no different from living school life.
It’s amazing.
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