Chapter 96
Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Creature Proprietor (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Daggers are nice, but I prefer a big, broad sword.
That’s why I chose the human-faced bird as my first target.
I wanted a sword bigger than that silver dagger in my hand.
I ignored the heavy presence emanating from the open door opposite the waiting area. Something was definitely inside, but it didn’t seem like it would come out right away.
I readjusted my grip on the dagger with a flick and turned toward the human-faced bird.
[The rookie’s first opponent is Pepper!]
A massive human-faced bird flapping on the ground.
Even with its talons pierced by thorns, it was enormous, and its pain-filled wingbeats were intimidating.
[Can a rookie Black Badger with less than six months of field experience take on Pepper with just a dagger?!]
Truth be told, I’m more comfortable with a sword than a gun.
The drug’s effects lingered, but my sharpened senses were crystal clear from the tension.
I smirked on one side of my mouth and charged at the human-faced bird.
[The rookie steps on Pepper’s thigh and climbs up!]
I’ll take its head!
Puk!
It went in clean.
A familiar sensation. I knew if I swung now without missing the flow, the human-faced bird was done for.
I rode the momentum and swung the blade.
I felt bone and muscle crunching.
[Oh! Pepper’s head is severed!]
I grabbed its face with my left hand and leaped to the ground as the announcer shouted.
The crowd’s cheers battered my ears.
[That makes two down! Holding what looks like a human head—it’s gruesomely grotesque!]
Jeers and cheers echoed through the arena.
I glanced down at the head in my hand. Unfocused eyes and blood pouring from the stump. It looked just like a general holding up a beheaded foe.
Just like in the old days.
I let out a small chuckle and raised the head high.
Then I hurled it at the fake Talib approaching me.
Splat!
The fake Talib’s head was half-smashed.
[What the—!]
“Bad taste….”
The announcer sighed in dismay, while Riccardo pointed it out calmly from behind the bars.
“Didn’t like the view?”
“It’s unpleasant.”
I replied without turning.
I pretended not to hear the faint amusement in my senior’s voice. I focused on the writhing, regenerating creature while watching the silver stream flowing toward me.
A fluid that refused to mix with anything else, like mercury hitting the ground.
I dropped the dagger into the silver puddle at my feet, and it melted in instantly.
[Ah, now Hou is forming Pepper’s face!]
Hou grew even more bizarre.
[ Pepper’s face on the rookie Black Badger’s body!]
“Urk.”
I spat out my impression flatly and extended my hand forward.
The sword Riccardo had made for me in the waiting area was regenerating from the silver puddle. Slower than last time, but steadily taking shape.
Even the smooth hilt.
The moment I gripped the completed sword, Hou charged.
Pulling back its Captain Hook-like arm.
I raised my sword as well.
“Thank you.”
I felt my senior’s gaze flying toward me and offered my thanks.
“This one’s even better than the last.”
[Hou raises its arm!]
The creature halted right in front of me.
I’d end it in one blow.
The instant it swung to decapitate me just like I’d done to Pepper, I slashed.
Whumm.
My sword strike let out an eerie sound as it cleaved Hou.
The flying slash collided with the opposite wall and scattered.
Kwaaang!
Ah.
Physical attacks do work if you put enough force into them.
I sensed one of its lives snuffed out.
I gazed indifferently at the creature losing form and spilling onto the floor. A crude, power-packed slash had been the right call. Delicate swordplay wouldn’t suit this thing.
Any fine slash would just get mimicked….
Memories of fighting something like Ray surfaced.
Lost in thought for a moment, I realized the surroundings had gone strangely quiet.
What?
The moment I looked up, spotlights hit me.
[Hou down!]
Cheers exploded like signal flares.
I squinted at the garish noise and eyed the announcer standing on his hoverboard.
[Did you see that, folks? Hou goes down without a fight! Man, this is more damage than we bargained for!]
Was he so smug because Black Badgers couldn’t touch civilians?
Or did he believe the fourth creature would finish us off?
I lowered my head, ignoring the announcer hyping up the excited crowd.
Then I lifted the tip of the sword I’d planted on the ground.
A heavy presence emanated from the dark tunnel.
Showbiz pros like these would save the best creature for last.
As I stepped toward the entrance sucking in air like a vortex, my senior’s voice came from behind.
“Hilde.”
This time, I glanced back.
“Who’d you learn the sword from?”
Riccardo’s face held no smile.
I knew full well that almost no one in this world used sword strikes like that. And Yoon wasn’t the type to teach it.
It was only natural he’d be shocked seeing a guy who’d clumsily swung a kitchen knife stuck in his arm pull off a move like that.
But now wasn’t the time for explanations.
Besides, I couldn’t answer his question.
“I don’t remember.”
I answered truthfully with a wry smile.
“If it comes back to me, I’ll let you know.”
Riccardo looked at me with that inscrutable expression again.
But he soon gave a short nod.
Wooooo…. A gloomy wail echoed from beyond the dark tunnel. Like someone clutching their face and sobbing.
Wooooo….
The mournful cry grew louder.
I waited for it to emerge into the arena.
The explosive cheers and jeers fell silent again. Even the announcer shut up. Probably planning to explain once it showed, or maybe stunned by the dirge-like noise.
I took in the wail shifting to sharp, eerie sobs.
And watched it enter the arena.
Massive hands.
Dragging itself forward on bony, withered hands.
[No matter how many times I see it, it makes my body tremble in fear.]
The announcer’s voice dropped from above.
[The Hole Man, Arthur!]
It raised its upper body.
The torso was almost human, though it had claw-shaped bones jutting from its inflamed side. Arthur looked like a plague victim on the brink of death, or a creature freshly crawled from the earth.
But it had no face.
More precisely, it had a human-like head, but a round hole gaped where the face should be.
Its lower body was a tangle of coiled organs.
How did the mafia even capture this thing?
I crouched my upper body, readying my sword swing.
Just before it threw its head back and screamed from the hole.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaak!
Shockwave.
It swept through the arena toward me. My honed senses pinpointed the incoming pulse. Adrenaline surged, slowing the world around me. The wave shattered arena tiles as it approached—sharp and lethal, like a sword strike.
The range wasn’t too wide.
I could dodge by rolling aside.
And if no one was behind me, I’d have gladly evaded it. I didn’t want to face that head-on.
If I’d had a choice.
[Hildebert Talib swings his sword!]
I had to cancel it, or the seniors would die.
I slashed with my right arm, realizing too late my strike lacked power.
Thud!
My sword strike collided with the wave and fizzled.
My skills had rusted, and the sword was too light.
[Offset failed!]
I raised the flat of the blade to block what I couldn’t cancel.
[Arthur’s scream flies in!]
The wave engulfed me.
Kwaaang!
“Keurk.”
I vomited a handful of blood.
I staggered, using the sword like a cane to steady myself.
Clang. The moment the blade tip hit the floor, the slowed world snapped back to normal speed. Heavy pain spread through my chest. My ears rang, and the ignored noises flooded in.
[My God! He took Arthur’s scream head-on!]
The announcer bellowed.
[First time anyone’s stupidly tanked it—and lived!]
Figures.
Anyone with decent skill would’ve dodged. It wasn’t an unavoidable attack. Deflecting or evading was the proper way, not meeting it straight-on.
But sometimes you don’t have that luxury.
I caught my breath, reeking of blood, and flashed a small smile.
While watching Arthur raise its saw-like bones.
“Is that your sword?”
More like a saw or spear, the way it swung.
“Nice to meet a foe with a weapon. Been a while.”
Though this wasn’t one to banter with leisurely.
Boom!
Its claw-sword slammed into the ground.
Chest pain slowed me slightly, and its long left arm sliced my left arm.
[Arthur swings its bone sword!]
Thud! Thud! Thoom!
Ignoring the stabbing pain, I dodged the bones smashing the floor, arena walls, and scattered creature corpses.
Solid power and speed. Tiles shattered, walls crumbled, and blood from Nemalda and Pepper’s burst bodies soaked the mess.
I rolled across the filthy floor, searching for a counter opening.
Insane speed.
Hard to imagine from that massive frame. Legless, crawling on hands alone, yet faster than most four-legged beasts. Not long ago, I’d have been helplessly bisected by its swings.
But after sparring Ye-hyeon, I’d trained focusing on speed.
Thanks to that, I found my counter without further damage.
Circling behind Arthur, I held my sword straight out.
Thoom!
Hadn’t forgotten this technique either.
The strike transmitted through the sword plunged deep into the arena floor. It rippled along the ground and slammed Arthur.
Arthur screamed and pitched forward.
The crowd erupted in awe. Riccardo muttered in disbelief from behind the bars, “What the….”
But no time to react to them.
It wasn’t dead yet.
I yanked the sword free and climbed onto Arthur’s lower body.
[What discourtesy!]
Time to finish it.
[Going for Arthur’s head like Pepper’s!]
I planted my feet on the creature’s shoulders as it tried to rise on its arms.
Then raised the blade high again. Tougher neck than the human-faced bird. Better to stab down from above than slice.
It whipped its head around, looking up at me on its shoulder.
The instant our sunken gazes met, I plunged the sword.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaak….
Sword in the hole.
I hurriedly released the firmly gripped silver blade. Something dark crimson was crawling up the sword.
Some kind of poison.
Its death throes? Power drained from Arthur’s arms. Standing atop its collapsing upper body, I watched the blade corrupt to crimson-black.
Better not grab it again….
Thud! As Arthur crashed heavily, I turned to Riccardo.
My green-eyed senior was shooting me an incredulous look, arms crossed.
Ugh….
“Senior.”
Sheepishly, I spoke in a polite tone laced with guilt.
“I dirtied your weapon. I’m truly sorry.”
It must’ve been expensive.
My maximally courteous apology didn’t land.
Riccardo uncrossed his arms, his expression even more flabbergasted at my words.
“That’s what you say right now~?”
“Huh? I thought so….”
If that’s wrong, what is right?
I felt my eyes twitching.
I looked at my senior in terror.
Then murmured faintly.
Adrenaline fading, I desperately ignored the crashing pain.
“I-I’ll… clean the loss and get a new one…?”
“When we get back, I’m smashing your head in, you.”
[Match over!]
The announcer’s shout drowned out my senior’s terrifying voice.
[Unbelievably! The rookie Black Badger claims overwhelming victory!]
Bang! Fireworks burst in the air. Ignoring my utter terror, dazzling overhead.
Cheers and jeers poured down.
The ecstatic announcer’s roar. Colored confetti raining on my white hair.
And my furious senior—and me watching his mood.
The announcer’s booming voice shook the arena.
[Victory for Hildebert Talib!]
And so, I won the match.