The Art of Slaughter
Three.
Two.
One.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Splaaash!
It looked as though the Kappas' heads were being severed simultaneously.
In reality, there was a microscopic delay between each strike.
Of course, only someone of Choi Muryeong's caliber could detect such a minute gap.
To an ordinary observer, it simply looked like a wave of heads flying off all at once, followed by a synchronized eruption of blood from their necks.
It was as if an invisible, colossal god had drawn a giant blade and swept it across the field.
Choi Muryeong swallowed hard.
It was hard to believe this wasn't some ultimate, trump-card skill. Yet, Lee Taepyeong was executing it as if it were nothing more than a basic attack.
Three.
Two.
One.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Splaaash!
Kappas' heads rolled across the ground in every direction.
Beside them, headless torsos stood momentarily frozen, not yet realizing they were dead, before collapsing into the mud.
A severed Kappa head blinked, its eyes fluttering in confusion, completely unaware that it had been detached from its body.
In that single blink...
Once more.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Splaaash!
Like a harvested watermelon patch, the blood-soaked paddy field was filled to the brim with rolling heads.
A cold bead of sweat rolled down Choi Muryeong's temple.
What kind of monster is this guy...?
Calling him a monster was neither an insult nor a joke.
It was pure, unadulterated awe.
It was the chilling, yet burning sensation that gripped a person when they stood before a being from an entirely different dimension.
"..."
Choi Muryeong adjusted his grip on his sword. His palms were slick with sweat.
If Lee Taepyeong hadn't been here...
Clearing the Tsushima Island Demonic Outbreak would have taken a week—no, probably over a month.
If not for Taepyeong, who would have thought to drag Maeng Juim along? Who else could have used Temptation to gather thousands of Kappas in one place and orchestrate a wholesale slaughter?
If they had gone by the book without Lee Taepyeong, rooting out the Kappas that had overrun Tsushima Island would have been an agonizingly difficult task.
Shring!
Even as he continuously sliced through the Kappas' necks, Choi Muryeong couldn't take his eyes off Lee Taepyeong.
...Lee Taepyeong is different.
Of course, Choi Muryeong had slain a comparable number of Kappas himself.
Yet, the reason he felt such a disparity in their caliber was due to a fundamental difference in experience and instinct.
Choi Muryeong knew everything there was to know about Kappas. He knew their racial traits, their habits, their strengths, their weaknesses, how to dodge them, and where to strike.
He knew because he had studied them.
He knew because he had fought them before.
But Lee Taepyeong was different.
Taepyeong knew instinctively.
No, it wasn't even a matter of knowing. It was closer to his body moving before his mind could even register the thought.
Like the blowing of the wind.
Like the falling of a leaf.
Like the crashing of waves washing away grains of sand.
It was a natural slaughter.
And therefore, a perfect death.
Crack!
The brain.
Slash!
The neck.
Thrust!
The heart.
Snap!
The spine.
Every movement was guided by an innate knowledge of where to cut, where to pierce, and where to sever.
This was, quite literally, a divine butchery.
The Heavenly Slaughter Star.
When Choi Muryeong had first heard of that trait, he had frowned in disapproval.
But now, he had no choice but to admit it.
Lee Taepyeong is...
Death itself.
Thirty minutes later.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
I frantically chugged stamina potions.
They tasted like orange juice with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Gulp, gulp, gulp...
They were decent enough, but the downside was that you got sick of them after two or three bottles.
"Phew..."
After downing about twelve high-grade potions in one go, I looked around with a refreshed expression.
The once-flat paddy field had transformed into a rolling hill of stacked Kappa corpses.
Slosh, slosh.
The muddy ground, previously sticky with Kappa slime, was now flooded ankle-deep with blood.
The foul, rotting stench that had blanketed the entire island was now completely overpowered by the metallic tang of blood.
"Looks like we killed them all, but the Demonic Outbreak isn't lifting yet," I said, looking at Choi Muryeong with a puzzled expression.
"There are likely still Kappas we haven't found yet," Choi Muryeong replied.
"Ah."
"I suspect the outbreak won't clear until we destroy all the eggs in their breeding grounds as well."
Kappas we hadn't found yet...
Come to think of it, a few of them had indeed fled.
They were probably the quick-witted ones who had already succumbed to the Fear status before Maeng Juim's charm could take effect.
We wouldn't be able to lure those runners out with Maeng Juim's Temptation anymore.
So, what to do...
A lightbulb went off in my head.
"Ah, that'll work."
A great idea had struck me. I pulled the Cerberus's Whistle out of my inventory.
Tweet!
I gave the whistle a short blow.
Grrrrrr...
Cerberus materialized from the shadows in an instant.
"Hey, the heavy lifting is already done, so cut the tough-guy act."
Whine?
At my words, Cerberus immediately tucked its tail. The beast lowered itself in a groveling posture, and when I just stared at it, it rolled onto its back and began wagging its tail furiously.
Well, well. I guess all dogs are the same.
"I didn't call you out here to play. Get up, buddy."
Cerberus scrambled back onto its feet.
"You see these things scattered everywhere?"
Woof! Woof! Woof!
All three heads barked in unison. Talk about a loud response.
"This isn't all of them. There are still some hiding on this island. Go track them down and kill them."
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Once again, the three heads barked their assent.
But then, the three heads began straining in completely different directions, their bodies trembling under the conflicting forces.
"Are you guys out of your minds...?" I muttered, clicking my tongue.
Whine! Yip! Whimper...
Cerberus immediately fell back into line.
"I appreciate the enthusiasm."
Woof! Woof! Woof!
"But you guys only have one body, so you need to cooperate, you idiots."
Whine... Whimper... Snort...
It seemed each head wanted to be the one to get praised. In situations like this, the master had to step in and sort out the traffic.
"For this mission, Goldie is in charge."
At my words, the middle head, Goldie, perked its ears up.
"Lefty, Righty, you two listen to Goldie."
Whine... Snort...
"I'll give everyone a turn to lead eventually."
Of course. I was a fair master.
The heads glanced at one another, and after seemingly reaching an agreement, Cerberus wagged its tail gently.
"Good. Now go, hunt them down."
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Cerberus dashed off like an arrow.
Now, all that was left...
"Do we need to find the breeding ground?" I asked.
"Yes," Choi Muryeong replied.
"Should I have Cerberus do it?"
"The scent is different, so it will be difficult for Cerberus to track it down."
Hmm. That meant we had to wander around and find it ourselves.
"We should check the small ponds and dried-up reservoirs this time," Choi Muryeong suggested.
Ugh. This part was always so tedious.
"It'd be great if we could just drag all the eggs here with Maeng-hyung's ability too..."
"Don't talk crazy," Maeng Juim snapped, looking absolutely disgusted.
Sigh. No choice then. We had to search for them one by one.
Fortunately, the fog was finally starting to lift.
Moreover, since we had wiped out the bulk of the Kappas, the other teams would be able to move around without much pressure.
Finding the breeding ground shouldn't take too long.
"Alright."
I wiped the blood splattered on my face and looked at the two of them.
"Shall we head out right away?"
Ganseki Castle Ruins.
Bang!
Sssssss—!
Everyone gathered at the location where South Korea's Team 1 had fired a flare.
Choi Muryeong immediately conducted a headcount with practiced ease.
There were no casualties.
"Any injuries?" he asked.
"You should've given them enough time to actually hurt us before asking that!" Ban Haeyeong grumbled.
"The moment we encountered the Kappa horde, they all vanished," Han Sion explained.
At Han Sion's words, Ban Haeyeong nudged my shoulder.
"You swept all those Kappas, didn't you, Taepyeong?"
"You caught on?" I replied.
"Oh, come on! Play fair for once!"
"Haha. Sorry. I also got caught up in the erot—"
I quickly shut my mouth and corrected myself.
"I didn't expect Temptation to work this well. Maeng-hyung's still got it!"
"Ooh!"
Everyone gasped in admiration, but Maeng Juim—whose face was pale from dry-heaving multiple times—couldn't utter a single word.
"Well, all's well that ends well! I didn't expect it to be over this quickly!"
Ban Haeyeong burst into a hearty laugh.
No dead hunters, no injured hunters, and no infected hunters.
From South Korea's perspective, it was an incredibly successful raid.
"I knew Team 2 would pull off something big!" Ban Haeyeong cheered.
"...It was all thanks to Hunter Lee Taepyeong," Choi Muryeong stated the facts calmly.
"Impressive. It's a shame I couldn't witness it myself," Seo Inha remarked.
I grinned at his comment.
"Well, we still have our joint operation with the Baekya Guild, so you'll get your chance."
"I'd actually like to discuss that collaboration..."
"We haven't even finished clearing this place yet, so doing it here is a bit much. Let's talk once we return," I said, smoothly changing the subject.
Seo Inha couldn't hide his disappointment.
"By the way..."
I glanced around the area.
All the Korean hunters were gathered, but there was no sign of the Japanese hunters.
Of course, I had personally witnessed the death of the barrier hunter, Shinya.
But what about the rest of them?
At the very least, Nakamura Ryohei, the world's number four, should have shown his face by now.
Especially since we had cleared out all the Kappas for them.
As I looked around with a puzzled expression, Choi Muryeong, guessing my thoughts, spoke up.
"Did you happen to see any of the Japanese hunters?"
"Not at all. Haven't seen hide nor hair of them."
At my response, Choi Muryeong and I exchanged looks.
Did that mean only Shinya had managed to make landfall?
No way...
It left a bad taste in my mouth. However, there was a more pressing matter at hand than searching for the Japanese hunters.
"Where did you find the eggs?" Choi Muryeong asked.
"They were visible near the garden. We didn't get too close, just in case," Han Sion replied.
Choi Muryeong nodded at Han Sion's answer.
"There might still be Kappas hiding around, so everyone watch out for infection."
The hunters passed through the castle gates, which were coated in Kappa slime, and scaled the moss-covered walls to enter the inner grounds.
Unlike the outside, the garden was still shrouded in a thick fog.
"This is absolutely disgusting," someone muttered under their breath.
Everyone's gaze turned toward the source of the comment, where a truly repulsive sight lay before them.
The garden was packed so tightly with eggs that there was barely any room to step.
The eggs, each about the size of a car tire, were clumped together, covered in a sticky, viscous slime.
"They really laid a disgusting amount of these things..." I clicked my tongue.
At a glance, there were at least several hundred. Maybe even over a thousand.
We had just slaughtered countless Kappas, and now there were a thousand more on the way.
I'm sick of this.
I shook my head. Everything was starting to feel like a chore now. I just wanted to burn these hideous things to ashes as quickly as possible.
"Alright, let's burn them all up quickly," I said.
"If we apply heat, the temperature might actually trigger them to hatch. It would be safer to freeze them first, then smash them," Han Sion advised.
I clapped my hands at Han Sion's suggestion.
"Even better. Let's freeze them fast and smash them to pieces then, shall we?"
"Yes. Then, right away..."
Just as Han Sion began preparing his freezing magic...
"That's far enough."
A voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, echoed through the garden.