Even Mountains Change in Three Hundred Years
Chwi Wolryang toyed with the hilt of his sword. Behind him, the heroes fell into formation with practiced, seamless precision. I swept my gaze across their ranks and ran a scan.
⊳ B-Class Heroes:30
⊳ A-Class Heroes:10
⊳ S-Class Heroes:1 — Chwi Wolryang (visual confirmation)
Good, good! They weren't about to disappoint me! Leave it to the Hero Plus Research Institute. For a facility this important to the Association, they had packed the place with high-ranking heroes.
And somewhere in that crowd, I spotted a familiar face.
"Masat!!"
Baekho broke ranks and took a step forward. Chwi Wolryang barred her path with the scabbard of his sword.
"Youth is a wonderful thing. But don't be so hasty, now."
Baekho bit down hard on her lip and clenched her fists.
"Nngh…"
Her color was back. She looked healthy. Well, of course she did. Who do you think operated on her?
It's me, Masat!
Heh heh heh.
"Hiyohohohohot! Well, well, if it isn't our little Baekkitty! How's the body treating you~?!"
"…What? Baekkitty?!"
The way she bristled was adorable. See? She looked exactly like a cat with its tail standing straight up.
Chwi Wolryang caught her by the shoulder.
"He's only trying to provoke you. Let it roll off like water."
Oh-ho. Think you can let this one roll, do you?
I twisted my whole body into a languid coil and let the words drip off my tongue.
"That's right, Baekho! We're the sort of close where we've seen everything there is to see of each other — a little pet name between us is perfectly natural! Just like Chwi Wolryang said, laugh it off! Come on, smile! Hiyohohohohot!!"
"…Seen everything there is to see of each other? W-what is that supposed to mean?"
The color drained from Baekho's face.
"Well, I don't know if this is really the place to discuss it, what with so many heroes listening in… Aing! How embarrassing~!"
The implication finally landed. Baekho's face went scarlet.
"You… you! I am going to kill you!!"
She lunged, and the A-Class heroes caught her by the shoulders and held her back. The bait was landing better than I'd expected.
Why was I teasing Baekho? Simple. I wanted to force an all-out brawl, right here and now.
The Maid Corps, Hongryeon included, numbered a mere seventeen. The heroes, on the other hand, had a full forty-one. We were clearly outnumbered! At this rate, the odds of the Maid Corps losing were uncomfortably high!
Heh heh heh.
Unlike Baekho, however, Chwi Wolryang tipped back his liquor gourd and surveyed the Maid Corps with perfect calm.
"Ahhh… fine scenery does wonders for the wine."
Then his right hand flashed through a draw so fast the eye could barely follow, and the tip of his blade settled on me.
"A messy free-for-all would be so tawdry, don't you think? And rather dull besides. How about a duel with this old man instead? Technique, now — that's one thing I can still put on a proper show with. Heh heh heh."
I could see exactly what he was doing. Stall with a one-on-one until the S-Class heroes arrived in force. Did he really think this super genius wouldn't notice?
But.
I actually liked it!
There was always the chance the heroes here might lose, after all. They would have already called the Hero Association for reinforcements by now! And once those arrived, not even Hongryeon would have a prayer of holding out!
"Hiyohohohohot!! A front-row seat to a Chwi Wolryang performance? What a thrilling proposal! This will be fun!"
A few revisions were in order, though.
"Alas, I am a dreadful dancer — I'd only kill the mood on stage!"
I am a virtuous man of science. Fieldwork has never suited me. I wagged my index finger back and forth.
"That simply won't do! So I shall send up a few performers of my own to deliver this stage its highlight!"
I broke into a frantic little run in place, hamming it up for all I was worth.
"Dugudugudugudugudugudugudugu! Bam-bara-bam! Our first headliner — Seopung of the Hayeomdae! A round of applause, everyone!!"
A thunderous ovation erupted from the Maid Corps. From the heroes' side, nothing but a cold, brittle silence. Two reactions at opposite extremes. Awkward.
Seopung spun her crescent glaive in a lazy circle and lowered it along a diagonal. The butt of the shaft struck the ground with a sharp crack.
"I won't go easy on you just because you're an old man… Why not surrender now, while you still can?"
Chwi Wolryang took a long pull of makgeolli and grinned.
"Why so serious? We only live once. Set down your worries and let's have ourselves a proper romp."
Seopung dropped her stance.
"Is that so? Then I'll play."
She launched herself forward faster than sound. A sonic boom cracked the air, and a gale howled out in every direction.
Chwi Wolryang smiled and raised his sword.
Saber met crescent glaive with a ringing clash. Seopung drove him all the way back to the wall, metal screaming as both blades ground together.
"It's not too late. How about it? Surrender. Deal?"
Chwi Wolryang beamed at her, his voice almost gentle.
"You've left yourself open down below."
His kick caught her in the ribs.
"Ghk—!"
She lifted off the ground and went flying. Alpha's relay crackled through my gas mask.
Hayeomdae Seopung — Fractures detected in right ribs 8 through 10.
Intercostal muscle rupture confirmed. Internal bleeding is minor; however, respiration is unstable.
Whoa… that looked like it hurt. Still, she'd already been modified. This much wouldn't kill her, so I wasn't worried.
Seopung staggered up from the crater she had punched in the wall. Auto-repair was already underway; her spine slowly, steadily straightened.
"Not bad, old man."
Oh. She was angry. Her speech had changed.
She charged Chwi Wolryang again.
"You still think I'm beneath you?!"
He twisted his body and let the blade hiss past him, steel screaming as the edge scraped by. Seopung slammed the crescent glaive into the floor and whipped around it like a pole dancer taking a hard curve, the heavy blade coming around again in a crushing arc.
"One more!!"
Chwi Wolryang turned the blow aside with a light, almost lazy parry of his saber, and his eyes narrowed.
"Don't tell me… you are the B-Class hero, Thundercloud?"
"Hmph! You caught on too late."
Lightning flared along the edge of the crescent glaive. Chwi Wolryang dropped his saber at once. Smoke curled from the hilt, electricity crackling and spitting along the metal.
"Whether your disciple suffered or not… all you ever had eyes for was the bottle, wasn't it?!"
Seopung's skirt snapped in the wind, and plasma flashed beneath it.
"This power Lord Masat bestowed upon me! I'll show you exactly what it means for the student to surpass the master!"
Alpha's relay whispered in my ear.
Hayeomdae Seopung — Internal bioelectric current amplified to 999%.
Crescent glaive internal core: rotational acceleration entering Stage 3.
Air density increase rate has exceeded 43%.
I hadn't known Seopung's master was Chwi Wolryang. Well… I'd also been too lazy to sit down and read everyone's files. Anyway. Chwi Wolryang…
He might actually die if he wasn't careful.
Hmm. Watch for now, I supposed. As long as the head was intact, bringing someone back was no trouble at all.
Seopung spun the crescent glaive above her head in a vicious, gathering whirl, the air itself starting to moan around the blade.
Thunderwind Dance
She brought the glaive down. The heavy blade split the air — and a wind pressure violent enough to warp the atmosphere itself erupted outward, wreathed in plasma.
A storm came howling in, dragging lightning with it.
It was over. The voltage Seopung had unleashed was a hundred million volts, and she had seeded the storm with aerosolized nanomachines besides. Superconductors. Zero resistance. No human being could take that hit and live.
And yet.
For some reason, the smile never left Chwi Wolryang's mouth. There was something bitter in his eyes.
Empty-handed — what did he think he was going to do?
He settled into a drawing stance.
Lunar Apex Flash
The instant his joined hands came apart, a brilliant flash erupted from his empty palms.
What was that?
Even Seopung's plasma was swallowed into the blade of light as it unfurled.
"Eh…?!"
A stunned little sound escaped her. The radiant edge Chwi Wolryang swept across her path carved straight through.
The shaft of the bisected crescent glaive clattered across the floor. Seopung's severed upper body dropped after it with a pitiful thud.
"Hahk… hhk…"
Wow.
So that was the power of an S-Class hero?
"Kishishishit… kihihihihihihihihihit!!"
I clutched the brow of my gas mask and laughed like a maniac. Good, good! Magnificent!! He wasn't quite SS-Class Sinnyeo, but he had blown past every expectation I had!
Chwi Wolryang might actually be able to beat Hongryeon!!
"Well now… the Super-science Dungeon's dignity is in rather sorry shape. Wouldn't you agree, Hongryeon?"
At my question, Hongryeon looked down at Seopung with a gaze like winter frost, and stepped forward.
"…This maiden is most ashamed. I shall take the field myself and reclaim our stolen honor."
Yes!
I'm counting on you!
My savior, Lord Chwi Wolryang!!
Hongryeon watched him stoop to retrieve his saber.
"That swordsmanship… I thought it looked familiar. The Kage-ryu of Aisu Hisatada — a Japanese blade art recorded even in the Muyedobotongji."
Chwi Wolryang tipped his gourd, took a swallow, and answered.
"My, my. Sharp eyes for such a young lady. But you're only half right. My ancestor trained in the Japanese schools, yes — and in the end, he refined them into the sword of this land."
Hongryeon gave a faint, almost soundless laugh and opened her palm. Instead of her twin blades, she lowered a single saber along a diagonal.
"I thought the face looked familiar. So you are a descendant of Kim Chegeon… military instructor of Joseon."
At that, the color hardened in Chwi Wolryang's face.
"You… how do you know my ancestor's name?"
Hongryeon loosened her shoulders with a light turn of the blade. Plasma flared along the edge and coiled around it like a living thing.
"Some three hundred years ago, a child came to Mount Seorak and asked to be taught the sword."
"He was a prodigy of the blade. In a short span of time he mastered the sword arts of numerous schools — including my own — thoroughly enough to establish an entire teaching curriculum. To think his descendant would be you… Fate has a cruel sense of humor."
For the first time, Chwi Wolryang wiped the smile from his face and dropped into a stance.
"I know not why the Swordmaster fell to the demonic path. But as one who follows in those footsteps, I shall grant you a peaceful rest."
Hongryeon leveled her beam saber at him, her expression unreadable.
"Did you know the child from three hundred years ago said the exact same thing?"
Wow. It had never really sunk in that she was a virgin ghost. Hongryeon… she was a living history textbook.
How to put it. As a good Confucian boy, my hands clasped themselves together of their own accord.
And right on cue, Chwi Wolryang kicked off the ground and came charging in.