Chapter 237
Chapter 237
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 237
Chapter Title: 99. Four Axes (3)
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There were no classes on sparring or dueling with cold weapons back when I went to school.
In PvP combat, guns were the one true god, and all other weapons were considered meaningless.
Even Jang Gi-yeong, who lived immersed in romantic fantasies, would say to grab an extra pistol rather than bother with sword fights.
In reality, my experiences fighting humans with cold weapons on the battlefield were extremely rare.
Cold weapons were mainly used as auxiliary gear in one-sided battles.
The Chinese hunter probably didn't receive any special training either.
Their training period was less than a year, to boot.
Just like our "academy hunters" or "training institute hunters," they were taught only the bare essentials in a short time and thrown straight into the fray.
Well, wielding a cool weapon like the Green Dragon Blade suggests he might have some real training after all.
No need to overthink it, though.
"......"
I descended the stairs and glared at the plaza, where the headlights and flare lights scrambled my vision.
At least ten Chinese soldiers had their guns trained on me, and in front of them stood a man with a Green Dragon Blade straight out of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, arms crossed and leaning cockily.
He said something to me.
Chinese, of course.
I still didn't know Chinese, nor did I have any intention of learning it.
I gestured that I couldn't understand, and one of the Chinese shouted in Korean.
"He's asking if you're really the Professor."
Fluent pronunciation.
A Korean Chinese, maybe.
I felt a flicker of curiosity but ignored it and answered them.
"That's right."
The Green Dragon Blade guy started yapping again.
The interpreter translated.
"Why don't you have the Golden Fleece?"
I snorted at the question and stared straight at the man called Baitou.
"Do you wear all your medals from every battle you've fought?"
The interpreter relayed my words to Baitou.
Baitou burst into loud laughter.
The kind of "heroic guffaw" you'd see in Chinese wuxia movies.
Baitou picked up his Green Dragon Blade and walked toward me.
He rambled on in Chinese.
"Baitou Hunter says he won't kill you."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"He says his skills far surpass yours, so there's no need to kill you. But he will take you prisoner and......"
"Torture me or something?"
"We're civilized. He plans to capture you as a POW and protest to the South Korean government."
Baitou swung his Green Dragon Blade and muttered something.
"And he'll demand the Golden Fleece as your ransom."
I said nothing, just stared at Baitou with a faint smile.
His hair was cropped short, his face angular from a hard life, not tall, body far from beautiful—but his legs and waist radiated raw power.
Above all, his eyes.
They gleamed with the shine only repeated victories could forge.
Shring—
I drew my axe and walked toward him.
Well, this was good anyway.
As long as it bought time, that was all that mattered.
"Park Gyu."
Ha Tae-hoon called from behind, his eyes filled with worry.
"Win this."
I raised the hand holding the axe behind my back and replied to him.
I had no intention of losing.
No intention of abandoning my goal.
I'm greedy, after all.
I'll save myself and my comrades, grab the disk from John_nenon's spirit haunt, and escape this place.
That's why I still hadn't turned off the communicator.
"Oops."
Even now, Dajeong's voice came through the speaker.
"Recovered the axe, but John_nenon's arm got ripped off......"
I chuckled and quickened my pace toward Baitou.
The Green Dragon Blade danced, thrusting forward like a wall of blades.
It was just a simple stance, but it clearly showed the advantage between me and Baitou.
Reach.
The distance difference was absolute.
Which meant Baitou had first strike no matter what.
Attack or defend, it didn't matter.
To catch Baitou, I'd have to close in and create an opening—but any condition like that was unwelcome.
Baitou undoubtedly had countless ways and experiences to counter such rushes.
If not, he wouldn't have accepted my duel.
Baitou said something.
His voice was too low for the interpreter, but I could guess.
"Come at me," something like that.
"Second axe recovered! Skeleton! I'm dual-wielding like Skeleton now! Skeleton, you hearing this?"
"Yeah."
I answered Dajeong's comm and charged forward.
Whoosh—
The Green Dragon Blade whipped its red tassel wildly, trying to block my movement.
Fast.
Clang!
"......"
And strong.
Especially his raw strength.
Average build, but that gorilla-like waist and legs seemed to unleash monstrous power.
I stepped back to steady my helplessly repelled axe and opened the distance.
Whoosh—
The Green Dragon Blade spun its red tassel again, flipping the blade like a homing missile tracking me.
My stance had crumbled, so I tried to dodge.
The flashing blade grazed my clothes, then arced in mid-air, pursuing my retreat with a stab.
Clang!
This time, I blocked with both axes.
Baitou's cold gaze fixed on me.
A sinister sneer curled his lips.
He yapped something at me.
I ignored him, shoving the clashing blades with all my strength and retreating.
Thus ended the first clash.
"......"
I regulated my breathing, glared at him, and organized my thoughts.
The title of China's strongest wasn't for show.
Strong, fast, seasoned.
Skilled enough to toy with me, vowing capture over kill.
Well, most of that edge came from the weapon difference.
I briefly resented my mentor Jang Gi-yeong for saddling me with dual axes.
"Enemy drones approaching."
Even in this blood-freezing moment, Dajeong's voice persisted.
"Not confident this time. Might lose."
"Even if you do, it's fine."
"Skeleton."
"But give it your all."
"Yeah! Like Skeleton!"
Without a screen, I couldn't see what was happening in the spirit haunt.
Baitou turned back and yapped at the interpreter.
The interpreter soon shouted.
"Baitou Hunter says you're decent. A shame to kill."
"Wasn't he sparing me? Said he'd take me prisoner."
"After crossing blades, he thinks capturing you might be tough."
"And?"
"Surrender here, and he'll treat you with honor. As a POW in war. Didn't specify treatment, but at least officer class."
"Oh."
I feigned interest.
We'd just had a neck-or-nothing fight, but I never forgot my goal.
Buy time, that's all.
I stared past the headlights at the three descending flares.
Quite high at first, they'd come down considerably.
Soon to hit the ground.
Then darkness would return.
"Your answer?"
The interpreter asked.
"Hmm. Thinking it over."
"Decide in three minutes. You know you had no right to choose. Baitou Hunter's showing special mercy to wretches we could shoot dead anytime. Know your place."
"......"
I watched the flares fall.
Soon.
About to crash down.
I spoke into the comm.
"To your positions."
Ha Tae-hoon headed upstairs.
Cheon Young-jae, under silence orders, was likely coiled in some shadowy high-rise.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!!
Gunfire echoed through the comm.
Dajeong's side was entering full combat now.
The controller clicks came through sharply as she worked it hard.
Bang! Bang!
"Haa."
Hearing Dajeong's regretful sigh, I stepped forward.
"Your answer?!"
The interpreter snapped irritably.
I stared straight at Baitou and replied.
"......I'm the Professor."
Baitou's eye twitched.
"Professor."
He echoed my callsign.
I nodded and charged him again.
Baitou grinned brightly, raising his chilling blade as before.
He muttered in Chinese.
Probably something like "No mercy this time."
No need for mercy.
Our reach gap favored him absolutely, but I had a counter.
The secret that made humans lords of all: throwing.
In my shaking vision, feeling the acceleration on my body, glaring at the Green Dragon Blade swelling to pierce my throat, I hurled my right-hand axe.
The Green Dragon Blade targeting my neck danced to intercept the flying axe.
That instant, my left hand threw the other axe too.
Double throw.
A technique I rarely used.
In a way, it meant giving up all my weapons myself.
However.
Clang!
I only used it when certain.
Baitou's Green Dragon Blade deflected the first axe, but the nearly simultaneous second spun fiercely toward his knee.
At a perilously low height.
Baitou's superior physique was evident from his leaps alone.
Without preliminary motion, he easily dodged the axe flying 50cm off the ground.
Having foiled both axes, he grinned toothily at me from mid-air.
Certain of victory.
But I hadn't thrown just two axes.
There was a third projectile.
Me, Park Gyu.
Clang!
A metallic strike rang through the comm, like slamming a can.
Hearing that cannon-like sound, I sidelong glimpsed the Green Dragon Blade's blade whizzing past me.
I'd breached his range.
He was still airborne.
Before my first axe hit the ground, I targeted the polearm's infamous—but rarely exploited—weakness.
Grab!
I seized the shaft.
The blade spun, but my body was already past it.
Thud!
I landed.
"Ni?!"
Then yanked.
No matter his leg strength, airborne, he couldn't use it.
Like Antaeus strangled by Hercules.
I glared at Baitou hurtling toward me along the shaft, stepped forward, and elbowed for his jaw.
Smack!
The weight-backed elbow smashed into Baitou's chin.
His eyes rolled, head snapping back.
Victory flashed through my mind, but so did admiration.
Even unconscious, his hands gripped the shaft.
As his limp body toppled like a felled log, the two axes hit the ground, ringing a clear steel song around us.
"Professor here. Baitou subdued."
Dazed voices rose from the Chinese everywhere.
I quickly grabbed a nearby fallen axe, hauled Baitou up, and aimed at his throat.
Twisted his arm to drop the Green Dragon Blade, then propped his unconscious body as a shield.
Bang! Rat-tat-tat!
Gunfire still blared from the speaker.
I calmly glared at the Chinese.
Couldn't see their faces in the headlight glare, but their movements and murmurs betrayed it.
The scale of their shock.
And I awaited the coming darkness.
Moments later, the three flares hit the ground.
And.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Nearly rapid-fire: six aimed shots.
Their targets.
Crash—
The lights illuminating us.
Vehicle headlights shattered instantly, plunging us into pitch black.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Rat-tat-tat!
Another volley echoed in the curtain of darkness.
This one with screams.
I dropped Baitou and bolted for the stairs.
"Park Gyu."
Ha Tae-hoon waited with a pale face.
He offered me a gun.
"You're really......"
"Can you stop admiring for a sec?"
I smirked, headed to the window, and unloaded.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Amid Chinese screams and frantic voices everywhere, vehicles scrambled.
"They're retreating."
After my brief report, silence-keeping Cheon Young-jae finally cheered.
"Fuckin' bastards. Crawl back to your continent."
"Good work, Young-jae."
"Nothing compared to you, Park sunbae."
"Fight's not over yet."
Exactly.
The biggest battle remained.
I headed to the monitor.
The tablet filled with a dim screen, vision shaking wildly, hard to follow.
Rat-tat! Bang! Bang!
Drone gunfire.
In the jittering view: server room lights flickering like stars, the gloomy green glow of the nuclear battery, and John_nenon's corpse—both arms gone—faintly visible.
Bang! Bang!
The screen went black suddenly.
"Huh."
Ha Tae-hoon tilted his head.
"Camera hit?"
No.
The feed returned.
And.
Clang!
A metallic impact rang clearly through the speaker.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound grew louder; soon, sparks flew beside it.
Clang!
"Ha. Tough bastard."
Dajeong's voice came, somewhat breathless.
"Ah, fuck. IV needle popped out."
After a brief mutter, Dajeong beamed.
"Skeleton!"
She called me.
Smiling, I responded.
"Yeah."
"We won!"
"Good job."
Victory in the two key battlefields.
The four axes at the center.
But the fight wasn't over yet.