Chapter 47: Two Weapon Merchants
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 47: Two Weapon Merchants
[You have awakened a Unique Ability.]
It was welcome news, but I obviously didn’t have time to leisurely analyze my new ability. Even as I continued to parry his sword, information flooded my mind.
[Weapon Switch]
[Switches the weapon you are holding. For a certain period of time, attacks made with the switched weapon have an increased chance of dealing a critical wound.]
Whether it was good or bad was a judgment for later. For now, I just kept swinging my sword.
“Just die, you Orc bastard!”
He must have been getting desperate, shouting at me like that, but there was no way I was granting his wish. The fight was clearly going against me. My wounds kept increasing, while in stark contrast, he didn’t have a single scratch on him.
But he was the one in a hurry.
As our swords continued to clash, I felt like I was starting to understand why he was acting so rushed.
The longer this fight dragged on.
The longer it continued.
I was getting stronger, little by little.
I was getting stronger.
And that’s why it was so enjoyable. To be honest, it was to the point where I never wanted this fight to end. I was the one accumulating wounds, but he was the one losing his composure.
“Kuaaaaaah!”
My Unique Ability, ‘Weapon Switch,’ was obviously not enough to deal with beings beyond the norm. But this was just the beginning. This ability would also grow and evolve over time.
Just as he had invited me into his trap, I was now inviting him into mine. He swung his broad-bladed longsword at me again. I put away my greatsword and started aiming for his sword with the Weapon-Breaking Longsword.
As if remembering the annoying situation from before, he hastily changed the sword’s trajectory, but I followed it.
“CLANG!”
With the sound, I felt his heavy strength. But just as I wanted, his sword was firmly locked with mine.
My other leg immediately shot out. I couldn’t land a hit on the Queen of the North, but I could definitely hit this guy.
“THUD!”
My foot struck his calf, but it had no effect. He activated his unique ability, and instead, my own foot went numb. But thanks to the excitement of battle, there was no damage. I continued to attack his leg while starting to press the Weapon-Breaking Longsword downward.
As he tried to react to my movement, I threw my body forward and slammed my head into his.
‘Pig bastard!’
“KWANG!”
The sound of steel hitting steel. An Orc’s skull is hard. He must have reduced the damage with his unique ability, but like a raindrop drilling a hole in a rock, I could feel small cracks starting to form in his body.
“Ugh!”
The moment he screamed in pain, I activated my Unique Ability, Weapon Switch.
It happened in an instant. To be honest, switching between the greatsword and the longsword was already a very natural action for me. But the switch activated by the Unique Ability showed me why such a trivial-seeming action was called a Unique Ability.
Before my brain could even process it, my hands crossed. At a speed I couldn’t have imagined, the ‘Greatsword Too Large to be a Sword’ and the ‘Weapon-Breaking Longsword’ swapped places. The moment I thought about activating the ability, all the muscles in my body began to move for that simple, repeated series of actions.
What I was aiming for with the switch was this: I hoped that his weapon, locked with my Weapon-Breaking Longsword, would be pulled along with it during the exchange. The result was better than I expected. It might have failed if I hadn’t distracted him with the kick and headbutt beforehand, but what did it matter? Right now, I had the upper hand.
“Krrrrk.”
I laughed pleasantly and swung the greatsword.
“WHOOOOSH!”
With a sound of cutting wind, the greatsword swung, and blood burst from his body, which should have been impervious to wounds. It wasn’t deep, but the feeling of the hit was solid.
‘Critical hit.’
My attack power alone couldn’t break through his unique ability. What just landed must have been a critical hit. I couldn’t figure out the exact probability, but it felt strangely good that it triggered on the very first attack.
The face of the man who had so absurdly lost his sword was pale. He had trusted in his body, but now he was scrambling to cover the gushing wound.
“Uwaaaaaaah!”
I switched again, between the greatsword and his longsword. I felt a little bit of magic drain from my body, but it wasn’t enough to be a bother. This time, I used his own weapon to attack his arm.
“KWANG!”
‘Did it not trigger this time?’
Whatever. There was plenty of time.
I kept swinging the sword. Sometimes, wounds burst open on his body; other times, they didn’t. But blood—whose, I couldn’t tell—kept splattering into the air.
Just as the rising excitement felt like it was about to make my head explode, he suddenly screamed, “Uwaaaaaaah!!” Unable to take it anymore, he turned his back and started to run.
“Kuaaaaaaaang!”
It was only natural to get fired up when my opponent suddenly turned tail in the middle of a heated fight. He was crawling back into the pit he’d emerged from.
I immediately jumped into the pit after him.
“You… you fucking bastards! Block him! Block him! Block that bastard!”
He looked truly pathetic, shouting at the Summoned who were holding their breath in the pit, just trying to survive. My surrounding clansmen, seeming to believe I had won this honorable duel, began to shout loudly.
“Blood Dagger is victorious!”
“Victory for Blood Dagger!”
There was no need for them to follow, but the loyal Five Siblings, including the firstborn, jumped into the pit with me. I couldn’t grasp the exact situation because I was busy fighting him, but it looked like they had taken everyone down before they could get into position.
I kept swinging my sword at the gnats swarming around me. Lee Youngdon looked utterly disgraceful, so desperate to survive that he was even throwing his own clan members at me as he fled.
“Krrrrrrng.”
With every swing of the sword, blood splattered and entrails flew. The sound of breaking bones and screams was incessant, and my whole body was damp with blood and sweat.
It’s not over yet. The party’s just getting started. Just as I was thinking that, I suddenly felt my body lurch forward. Beside me, the firstborn of the loyal Five Siblings caught me in surprise.
‘Damn it.’
“It was a glorious battle, Chieftain.”
Whether he was comforting or cheering me on, he looked at me with his red eyes. He must have roughly guessed that I was exhausted from losing so much blood. His eyes were telling me it was impossible to keep fighting on the battlefield.
As the tension instantly drained away, I felt the strength leave my entire body. I couldn’t help but bite my lip.
Exhaustion in the middle of a battlefield… Even though I’d taken a lot of damage fighting Lee Youngdon, it was a pathetic sight. It was lucky he ran. If he had kept clinging to me until the end, I might have been the one to die.
My vision started to blur. I quickly looked around. It wasn’t that we had no casualties among our clansmen, but overall, we had the upper hand. The performance of Mev’s arrows and Jung Hayeon’s roots was impressive.
‘Can I really say we won?’
We definitely won. But it left a bad taste in my mouth. Supported by the firstborn, I watched him. Lee Youngdon had already fled far to the other side of the pit. With my remaining stamina, catching him was impossible. We could probably get him if I sent other clansmen, but I didn’t want to imagine how many casualties we’d suffer.
As if knowing they couldn’t let Lee Youngdon escape, Jung Hayeon’s roots and Mev’s arrows flew toward him, but he continued to flee, clearing a path with his nearby comrades.
‘Damn it… Damn it…’
With their Clan Master pulling out, the others were also trying to escape to the other side rather than engage us. They were retreating even without an official order.
The warriors and paladins at least seemed to have some sense of duty to protect their party, sending the priests and mages out first, but it didn’t look like many of them would survive.
Around then, my vision blurred even more. The firstborn entrusted the exhausted me to the Goblin Three Sisters and went to the front to fight.
I wanted to fight. But my body wouldn’t listen. I opened my mouth to speak to the Goblin Three Sisters.
“Don’t chase the ones who fled. Finish off the ones here and return to the village. Take your next orders from Mev.”
The Goblin Three Sisters, who now had cute faces, nodded as they deflected an arrow flying toward me.
I wondered what to do about the escaped Lee Youngdon. I was also extremely curious where Choi Seulgi, who I presumed was still here, had gone, but my body was at its limit. It seemed the clan was also near its limit from the continuous fighting. I could tell just by looking at the Goblin Three Sisters. Their eyes were shining with effort, but they were exhausted and dripping with sweat.
If those who had advanced so quickly were in this state, the others must be having an even harder time. Unable to hide my frustration, I squeezed my eyes shut.
*
“Damn it… Damn it!! Damn it!! How dare that Orc bastard… How dare he!”
Lee Youngdon was running for his life. His unique ability, ‘Steel Skin,’ which he thought was impenetrable, had been shattered, leaving his body covered in wounds. His beloved sword, obtained from a dungeon, had also been taken by that bastard. It would be strange if he wasn’t furious.
He couldn’t be sure, but most of his clan members had been wiped out. Everything he had built over the years was gone in an instant because of one mistake.
Only a small number, including himself, had escaped. Praying that the exhausted-looking Orcs wouldn’t send a pursuit team after them, Lee Youngdon pushed through the undergrowth, trying to get out.
“Fuck…”
The terrain had been altered, so of course he couldn’t find the exact way out, but he figured if he kept heading outward, he would eventually reach the city.
With that thought, Lee Youngdon kept running. He had already shown a disgraceful side of himself in front of his clan members. Glancing back, he saw them watching him with uncomfortable expressions. There could be no other reason for such looks.
His authority had plummeted. The Red Cross Clan, which had once commanded the western city of Aia, would never be the same. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he couldn’t let it show. Instead, driven by shame and anger, Lee Youngdon started shouting even louder.
“Useless bastards! Can’t you run faster? What are the archers doing?!”
As expected, no one answered. The thought of entering the city and getting an earful from the Saint Knights Order only deepened his gloom.
It was then.
“Uwaaaaaaah!”
A scream came from the very back of the group.
“Damn it… Damn it!!!”
They must have sent a pursuit team after all. That Weapon Merchant was probably with them. He kept cursing under his breath, but there was no other option. If they fought, they might have a chance of winning, but Lee Youngdon, a warrior, knew his own chances of dying would be the highest. So he ignored the screams and ran without stopping.
“Uwaaaaaah! Master! Master!”
One by one, they called his name before disappearing into the darkness, but he couldn’t help them. He was too busy trying to save his own skin.
After running for a long time, he was the only one left. Lee Youngdon gasped for breath, exhausted.
“Haa… Haa…”
Just a little further to the city. He had lost everything, but he could surely rebuild. He could return to his roots and soon regain his former prestige. As he took a deep breath with that thought, a dagger flew into his mouth.
“Aaaargh!”
Excruciating pain shot through him as the dagger pierced his throat. But he had to live. Lee Youngdon pulled out the dagger and started running again. To be precise, in the opposite direction from where the dagger had come. As he ran, he saw a mysterious woman. Normally, he would have been suspicious, but his mind, having lost all reason in the face of death, didn’t allow for complex thought.
“Damn it… Damn it, help me. Over here! If you have a potion… I’ll be sure to reward you when we get back to the city.”
He kept speaking through his pain-racked mouth, but the woman didn’t answer. Just as Lee Youngdon sensed something was wrong and tried to back away, he heard a voice.
“It’s been a while.”
“..........?”
Lee Youngdon couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t quite remember her name, but there was no way he could forget that face. She was the woman he had sworn to make his concubine by any means necessary from the moment he first saw her.
‘Choi Seulgi.’
It was hard to understand why the missing Choi Seulgi was here, why she was holding a dagger, or why she was approaching him, but he could definitely feel an indescribable ‘hostility.’ What pricked his skin was ‘killing intent.’
“This crazy bitch…”
Even though he was unarmed and critically injured, the thought of being looked down on by a woman like her made rage boil up inside him.
This was perfect.
He needed something to relieve his stress anyway. He would knock her half-unconscious and drag her to the city. He’d take her to the city and devour her from head to toe.
“Filthy eyes.”
“What?”
Choi Seulgi charged in an instant. It was then that he realized things had gone wrong.
“F… F… Fuck!”
He tried to block her with his bare hands, but Choi Seulgi vanished in an instant and reappeared behind him.
He tried to activate his unique ability, ‘Steel Skin,’ but he had used so much magic that he worried it wouldn’t be effective. Still, I should be able to block it, he thought. And so, Lee Youngdon activated his ability.
But…
The dagger stabbed precisely toward his eye. He hastily raised his arm, but the dagger slithered in like a snake, tearing through his eyelid and embedding itself in his eyeball.
“Puuuuk.”
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
It was only natural that a pained scream burst from him involuntarily. It felt like his eye was being seared by fire. No, he could feel that his eyeball had been completely shattered.
“Puhahahahaha!”
Choi Seulgi laughed at the sight of him writhing in pain. Before Lee Youngdon could even move, the dagger kept stabbing into him. ‘Steel Skin’ blocked a few of the attacks, but the dagger, aiming for his softer skin, continued to bury itself in his body.
“Puhahaha!”
“S… Save me. S… Save me, please… I’ll do anything if you save me, please…”
Clutching one eye, Lee Youngdon rolled on the ground, but Choi Seulgi’s response was cold.
“No.”
The dagger flew toward his remaining eye. He tried to push her away with his arms, but he couldn’t block the dagger that curved in like a snake. His magic must have run out, because his unique ability no longer activated.
“Aaaargh!”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
His vision was completely gone.
“Ughhhh…”
He began to feel a long, skewer-like weapon entering his ear.
“Aaaargh!”
He tried to scream, but his eardrums must have been ruptured because he couldn’t even hear his own voice properly. Nose, mouth, the organs in his stomach. As he writhed in agony and was about to close his eyes for the last time, a potion was poured into his mouth.
‘Kill me… please…’
That was the last thought Lee Youngdon had while he was still fully alive.
*
“Tsk. Have you folks heard the story?”
“What story?”
“The rumor that the Red Cross Clan in the western city of Aia was completely smashed. They say some damn Orc, a Weapon Merchant or whatever, beat that Lee Youngdon fellow to a bloody pulp… I hear some damn Half-Ogre is causing trouble in the jungle these days, too… The world’s really going to hell. The end times.”
“Ah… I don’t really keep up with that kind of news. I knew things have been noisy lately, but it seems Named Monsters are appearing more often.”
The coachman, who ran a business of sorts providing comfortable travel for Summoned, glanced back into the carriage. He only transported people by carriage along the stabilized ‘roads’ managed by the cities, but with monsters running rampant recently, work had been scarce. Then, after a long while, he got some customers. There were quite a few of them, but what particularly caught his eye were the beautiful women.
One looked like a thief who mainly used daggers, and the other was a woman holding a long spear. The group of people surrounding the spear-wielding woman protectively looked anything but ordinary.
It looked like they had formed a small clan. To be moving to another city in such chaotic times, their skills must be above average, but he couldn’t help but worry.
But the coachman soon pushed his worries aside. He just had to do his job. He’d received a hefty advance in gold coins, so he decided to take a little break after this job until the monsters calmed down. The coachman fell silent and started moving slowly.
Just then, voices started coming from inside the carriage. He tried not to listen, but he couldn’t help his curiosity. He pricked up his ears and soon heard a beautiful, clear voice. It was only natural that he turned his head slightly to look.
“Where are you from, by any chance?”
“The West. Not Aia. A small city a little ways from there. Where are you from?”
“Haha. I’m from near there, too… What a coincidence. Since fate has brought us together, shall we introduce ourselves? My name is Choi Seulgi.”
It seemed the woman named Choi Seulgi was quite friendly. As she suddenly got close, the people guarding the spear-wielding woman seemed wary for a moment, but when the woman with the spear muttered, “It’s fine,” he could feel them all relax their guard.
‘As I thought, she’s no ordinary person.’
The coachman thought to himself as he continued to drive the carriage.
“This is Han So-Hye.”
“Ah… that’s a pretty name. By any chance… where are you headed?”
The coachman, having received the request in advance, of course knew where the spear-wielding woman named Han So-Hye was going. But he didn’t answer for her. It would have been rude to butt into their conversation. A moment later, Han So-Hye answered Choi Seulgi’s question. She seemed to hesitate, but soon a voice full of conviction echoed inside the carriage.
“The North.”
“....................”
“Oh my. What a ‘coincidence.’ I’m also heading to the ‘North.’”
After that, the coachman completely tuned out the conversation from the carriage. He had been hired to take them to the ‘entrance’ of the northern mountains. He had no intention of getting involved in their business and going ‘inside.’ Traveling down the strangely quiet road, the coachman muttered to himself without realizing it.
“The world’s going to hell… The end times.”