Shark Hunt (6)
‘To think the Thunder Bombs would be rendered completely useless like this…’
Geum Cheon-gang stared at the Thunder Bomb rolling uselessly across the ground, his face dark with despair. The black-clad warriors around him had realized the same thing.
Their trump card had been thwarted in the most absurd way possible. There was nothing they could do.
William noticed the Black Shark Squad’s morale plummeting and adjusted his grip on the pollaxe.
‘Looks like they’re just shy of three hundred.’
That was more than enough for him.
But far too few for the people of Hainan Island.
William quietly turned his head and met the gaze of the sect leader, who was watching him.
“Everyone, discard your bows and draw your swords.”
At the power in the sect leader’s voice, the disciples hurled their bows to the ground. They had nearly run out of arrows anyway, and there was no point clinging to bows that weren’t even their primary weapon.
From now on, it was the age of the sword, not the bow.
The warriors of the Hainan Sword Sect.
The warriors of the Black Wolf Squad.
They were all swordsmen at heart.
In this field of swordsmen where even one step away stood another swordsman, William—holding a pollaxe instead of a plow—channeled aura into the tips of his feet. It was a crude, brute-force method that barely deserved to be called footwork.
But battles weren’t won with fancy footwork.
Sometimes the simple thing defeats the complicated… The entire hillside thrummed with the sense that an all-out battle was about to begin.
The leadership of the Hainan Sword Sect, led by the elders, stood at the front looking down at the Black Shark Squad, while William threatened them from the flank.
‘He’s not seriously thinking of charging in alone, is he?’
Geum Cheon-gang stared at William with an expression of disbelief.
An unidentified foreigner with exceptional skill. Their realms seemed roughly equal, but in actual combat ability the foreigner held the clear advantage. That single fact had created a fatal flaw in their plan.
He wanted to tear the man apart right then and there, but Geum Cheon-gang could not act rashly.
‘If I’m not careful, I could lose the last Thunder Bomb as well.’
If even this final Thunder Bomb became useless, the last thread of hope would vanish. He gripped the hilt of his sword from within the ranks of the black-clad warriors and looked up at Lim Ha-bong, the sect leader of the Hainan Sword Sect.
In the current murim, where the number of super-first-class experts had grown compared to previous generations, there were still only about fifty such masters across the entire Central Plains.
Could he kill a man who ranked among those fifty?
The Geum Cheon-gang inside his mind shook his head.
If a Thunder Bomb struck directly, even he would die. But would a super-first-class expert really allow himself to be taken down so easily by the tricks of a mere peak-level warrior?
Had things gone according to the original plan, it might have been different. But the operation had been a complete failure from the very start.
Geum Cheon-gang ground his teeth.
‘There is… no chance of survival.’
Look at the orthodox warriors glaring at them as if they wanted to carve them into pieces. In this battlefield thick with killing intent, Geum Cheon-gang steeled his wavering heart.
‘If I’m going to die anyway, I’ll take the sect leader with me.’
Even in death, he would complete the mission somehow.
The great cause that the higher-ups of the Demonic Cult had emphasized again and again. As a member of the Cult, he had to fulfill that duty.
“All members of the Black Shark Squad. Advance. We must restrict Lim Ha-bong’s movements even a little. Understood?”
Instead of answering, the squad members tightened their stances. They had followed their captain’s orders faithfully until now. Seeing their resolve, a faint smile formed on Geum Cheon-gang’s lips.
‘See you in the afterlife.’
“...A single-point breakthrough, huh.”
William calmly shifted his gaze, observing the black-clad warriors preparing for their final battle. From Geum Cheon-gang’s behavior, he guessed the man still carried more Thunder Bombs.
From William’s own experience crossing blades with him, their realms were similar. It would be far too lacking to target the sect leader of the Hainan Sword Sect, who clearly stood a step above.
‘Which means there’s only one left.’
If he had several Thunder Bombs, he could simply throw multiple ones at the sect leader. The fact that he had hidden carefully among his troops and aimed for the main force suggested their number was extremely limited.
Seeing the grim determination on Geum Cheon-gang’s face, William estimated there was at most one, or possibly two.
‘Either way, I just need to stop that bastard from throwing them.’
Without the Thunder Bombs, they were nothing but a disorganized mob of exhausted peak-level experts and first-class warriors clumped together.
‘Draw their attention. And if possible, target Geum Cheon-gang.’
The immediate objective was set. William gripped the shaft with both hands and exploded the aura at the tips of his feet. With a sound like the earth itself erupting, his body shot forward.
“Squad members on the flank, stop that foreigner!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Black Shark Squad warriors on the side turned their blades toward William. Seeing this, he drew his arm back, preparing a wide swing of the pollaxe.
Countless swords were aimed at him, but he paid them no mind.
Charging straight into a demonic den where countless blades sought his life with murderous eyes.
There was nothing more familiar to William than that.
His pollaxe whistled through the air. A simple horizontal swing from right to left.
But the strike carried such overwhelming power that the Black Shark Squad members didn’t even dare to block it and retreated. Had they tried, their heads would have flown off along with their swords.
When his first attack missed, William naturally rested the pollaxe on his shoulder and switched his grip, as if he had expected it.
He flowed smoothly into a thrusting stance. Before the enemy could even register the change, he drove the sharp butt of the shaft straight toward the nearest black-clad warrior’s heart.
“Ugh…”
“Not screaming is a decent decision, but I’m not sure it’s doing you any favors.”
The black-clad warrior impaled on William’s weapon was dragged forward. The others couldn’t react to the sudden turn of events. Seeing their stunned faces, William twisted his lips into a smirk.
‘Looks like they’ve never fought a real battle before.’
A grab.
Using a technique known in the Central Plains as the Suction Palm Art, he pulled the former human toward him, then swung the pollaxe with the corpse still dangling from it.
The body naturally slipped free from the spike and flew through the air. Its landing point was directly in front of the Black Shark Squad.
The squad members who should have caught their comrade hesitated for a moment at the sight of the flying corpse.
Should they cut it?
Or catch it?
Either choice tore at their hearts.
After agonizing, they chose the former.
Blood and entrails exploded outward, soaking the black-clad warriors.
‘Comradely love is important. But on the battlefield, you must be colder than anyone else.’
Those who couldn’t manage that would lose their heads while they hesitated.
Using the corpse as a shield, William charged into the squad’s flank once more. This time it was a headlong rush with the pollaxe’s blade leading.
‘When did he get this close?!’
A squad member distracted by the blood and guts spraying from their flying comrade finally noticed William’s presence and raised his sword.
But it was too late.
‘I definitely blocked—’
That was his final thought before consciousness cut off. William ignored the head flying through the air and the blood gushing from the neck, immediately thrusting his pollaxe toward the next opponent.
This time, however, it was blocked.
The Black Shark Squad member who had parried with the flat of his blade exchanged glances with another. The black-clad warriors guarding the flank unfolded their Black Wolf Steps and surrounded William on all sides.
William shoved one of them away with the spike and retrieved his weapon.
‘An encirclement. Not bad—they used their heads.’
He swept his gaze over the clearly nervous warriors and smiled.
Even in a dangerous situation, he grinned ferociously and reversed his grip on the pollaxe. The black-clad warriors held their swords ready without moving recklessly.
“Eight of you.”
His pollaxe stabbed toward the nearest black-clad warrior. The man reacted instantly and dodged the thrust.
In doing so, William was left with a large opening. Without hesitation, the others swung their swords at the seemingly reckless attacker.
There should have been no way to block blades aimed at his vital points from every direction.
William’s response was simple.
A stubborn charge.
Block what could be blocked.
Dodge what could be dodged.
And take what had to be taken.
Tears appeared all over his previously neat clothes. Blood flowed from the cuts, but there were no major wounds.
He immediately swung the pollaxe sideways, shoving the warrior who had blocked his attack several steps away, then forced his body into the newly created gap.
At the same time, he retrieved his weapon and drove the spike on the pollaxe’s head through the skull of the black-clad warrior attacking from the opposite side.
“Seven.”
“Number 32!”
A grief-stricken voice rang across the battlefield. But they couldn’t afford to lose focus over something like this.
William kicked away Number 32, whose head was impaled on the spike, and leaped into the empty space that had naturally formed. The black-clad warriors were a step too slow to react to his sudden movement.
Once free of the encirclement, William hurled the pollaxe at the warriors trying to surround him again. An unexpected throw infused with aura.
The black-clad warrior who had leaped toward him and was therefore floating in mid-air became the victim of the thrown spear.
“Aaaargh!”
“Number 27!”
Number 27, skewered through the stomach, let out a death cry as he flew far away and slammed into a tree.
“Six.”
William drew the buckler from his left hip and picked up one of the swords the black-clad warriors had dropped.
The grip wasn’t familiar, but it was the perfect length to use with a shield.
He charged toward the broken formation like a rampaging rhinoceros.
“Don’t panic! We still have six of us left!”
Six against one.
Even with a gap in realm, they could still try to use a sword formation to fight back.
But William had no intention of letting them.
With somewhat reckless movements, he leaped toward the nearest black-clad warrior.
Sensing danger, the man’s sword drew a curve as it aimed for William’s heart. The strike was heavy with tension. To William, it was perfect prey.
He angled his buckler into the sword’s path. That alone caused the warrior’s body to twist violently. His balance had collapsed because his attack had been deflected.
And that became his final mistake.
A burning pain churned in his gut. Number 41 coughed up blood and lowered his head.
“Damn… foreign bastard…”
“Five.”
The way he counted in a voice completely devoid of emotion caused terror to rise on the Black Shark Squad members’ faces.
And that emotion was no different from a death sentence for them.
Because fear was an emotion that invited death.
William dispatched the terrified black-clad warriors in the blink of an eye. When the fight ended, he took a deep breath and looked out over the battlefield where the two sides were tangled together.
He quickly turned his gaze, eyes scanning rapidly.
His target had always been Geum Cheon-gang.
He tossed the blood-soaked sword to the ground and picked up the fallen pollaxe.
It was time to rejoin the battle.
Spotting Geum Cheon-gang facing off against the sect leader in the middle of the battlefield, William gripped the pollaxe in one hand.
It was a bit heavy, but spreading aura through his body to strengthen his muscles took care of that. He then coated the pollaxe with aura. A faint blue light spread across the weapon.
And then he hurled the pollaxe toward Geum Cheon-gang.
The weapon tore through the air with a terrifying roar, shaking the surrounding atmosphere as it flew straight at its target.
Geum Cheon-gang noticed the pollaxe flying at him too late and hurriedly used footwork to dodge in shock.
An opening created out of necessity.
It was a gap difficult to exploit unless one was an outstanding warrior, but right in front of Geum Cheon-gang stood a super-first-class swordsman.
He was not the kind of man to miss such an opportunity.
“Squad Leader!”
Snapped out of his daze by the black-clad warrior’s shout, he looked up.
“Die, you dog of the Demonic Cult.”
A wave of sword qi surged toward the black-clad warriors.
The bodies of countless black-clad men were torn to shreds, creating a horrific hell upon the hillside. The man responsible for this living hell—Lim Ha-bong, sect leader of the Hainan Sword Sect—glared with burning eyes at Geum Cheon-gang, whose right arm had been severed.
“This…”
“Do you not even know that losing focus on the battlefield is no different from suicide? For fools like you to dare target the Hainan Sword Sect…”
“Failure… it can’t be…”
It was virtually impossible to light a fuse with one hand.
‘I’ve lost.’
The frontline had collapsed under the dozens of sword qi bundles launched by the sect leader. The remaining black-clad warriors, already exhausted, were being cleaned up by the Hainan Sword Sect disciples without being able to put up any meaningful resistance.
‘How hollow…’
A plan built over many long years had ended in failure.
In his fading consciousness, he looked at the approaching foreigner.
‘I have to… report about that man…’ The mysterious foreigner. He had a strange conviction that this man would become a major obstacle to their great cause.
“...Is that a Thunder Bomb?”
“...It is.”
He reached out with his remaining left arm to grab the foreigner’s arm as he tried to take the Thunder Bomb. But the arm didn’t rise far before it slammed into the ground.
‘He’s dead.’
William looked away from Geum Cheon-gang, whose breathing had stopped, and turned to Lim Ha-bong. Seeing the few remaining Demonic Cult warriors, he spoke.
“Thanks to you, we won with far fewer sacrifices than expected.”
“You give me too much credit.”
“We can talk about the rest after we finish cleaning up those remnants.”
“I will help.”
Without needing to decide who would go first, both men’s figures shot toward the remaining forces of the Demonic Cult.