Chapter 19
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: A Martial Art I've Never Seen Before
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The innkeeper and the errand boy paused in their work to watch us, as if we were some roadside spectacle.
From the window on the second floor of the inn, a passerby heading to the Imperial Palace Martial Academy watched us with keen interest.
The next day.
Once Yang Cho-gun was well enough to move about, we resumed our journey.
We still had plenty of time, so we strolled along leisurely, as if out for a walk.
After half a day's trek like that, the sharp clash of weapons reached our ears from afar.
And it was quite the racket.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang!
"Sounds like someone's having a fierce go at it somewhere."
"Better steer clear so we don't get dragged in."
"Agreed."
We unleashed our lightness skills and veered up onto the ridge line.
From the mountaintop crest, I peered down leisurely. A long merchant caravan stretched out below.
There were at least twenty massive wagons—a formidable scale.
Bandits, by the look of them, were swarming the huge convoy in a frenzy.
From the array of banners, it seemed smaller merchant groups had banded together under the large one's protection, paying a fee no doubt.
But the bandits outnumbered them enough to swallow even that massive group whole.
I whistled, offering my take.
"Whew~ Attacking a caravan that size? Must be something worth flipping their lids for in there. And a bandit crew like that? Gotta be Green Forest bandits."
Yang Cho-gun replied, as if he had a hunch.
"I heard there's a major Green Forest stronghold around here. Could be them—Red Tiger Stronghold, I think it was?"
Green Forest bandits could definitely take on a caravan that big.
Then,
I spotted a familiar banner.
"Huh? That's..."
"You know them?"
It was unmistakably the Thousand Gold Merchant Group's flag.
So the ones under attack were escorting their goods?
"Hmm."
I hesitated for a moment.
I didn't have deep ties with the Thousand Gold Merchant Group, but they'd helped me out before. Ignoring it felt off.
Return what you receive—that's my life's motto.
"Stay here a sec."
"Why? Gonna lend a hand?"
"Seems like I should. They did me a solid not long ago."
Yang Cho-gun, figuring me for a man of honor, grinned brightly and offered to join right away.
"Oh? Then count me in."
"You're not fully recovered. Best you hang back."
"I'm good as new. I owe you one anyway—might as well pay it back with interest."
"Hmm, never saw it as a debt, but if you're set on it, I won't stop you. I'll head down first then."
Whoosh!
With that, I launched myself toward the bandits.
'Perfect chance to test Master's Dark Emperor Supreme Heaven Art in real combat.'
I pushed my movement technique to the max, bounding from tree to tree at top speed.
The air whipped against my cheeks like a slap.
First, I sized up their numbers.
Roughly two hundred, give or take.
'They came in force.'
The caravan guards numbered about the same, but most were mere escorts without proper gear.
Fewer than fifty wielded real weapons.
Even the escorts had grabbed hand axes and sickles to fight back.
But against bandits with decent arms, it wasn't enough—corpses of escorts littered the ground.
I rushed to support the Thousand Gold Merchant Group guards first.
Spotting one about to be skewered as he fell, I hurled a dagger from my bosom.
I'd packed it full of inner energy, so it whistled through the air and pierced the bandit's nape dead-on.
"Gahk!"
Yang Cho-gun seemed stunned by my hidden weapon skills.
Compared to the average martial artist he'd seen, my speed, power, and precision were on another level.
"You're a jack of all trades, really."
"Haha, this is nothing."
If I'd told him I was a Shadow Squad assassin back in the Demonic Cult, he wouldn't be this impressed—but no need to spill that.
I just smiled and started cutting them down.
No mercy in my strikes. Fists and kicks shattered faces or pulverized joints, leaving them sprawled and unable to rise.
This was my first real combat test of the Dark Emperor Supreme Heaven Art.
It included forbidden techniques from my old world: finger jabs, claw rakes, hand blade strikes.
Unlike modern hand blades, channeling inner energy made them as sharp as a sword edge.
Master it to the tenth stage, and you could manifest sword aura to slice steel in one go.
The Dark Emperor Supreme Heaven Art was brutally effective on debut.
But the foes were too weak—I couldn't even unleash the later forms.
One hit meant instant death or crippling.
"Enemy! Martial artist incoming! Nets and hooks—now!"
The bandits I'd faced before fled at the sight of martial artists, but not these.
Green Forest bandits knew how to handle them.
'True to Green Forest form.'
As I thought that, nets and hooks flew at me from all sides.
The hooks had barbs like fishhooks—once embedded, they tore flesh if pulled.
"Pin him in a net, then turn him into a pincushion with spears and arrows! Spearmen forward!"
"What the...? These guys a damn army or something?"
I drew my Red Ying Dagger and infused it with inner energy.
Couldn't advertise demonic arts outright, so just a touch.
A faint black aura flickered along the blade.
Precision control like that was no easy feat.
I slashed the descending nets to ribbons.
Snick! Snick!
Had they been sky spider silk, it wouldn't have been so easy—but common bandits wouldn't have that luxury.
I shredded the nets, leaped skyward, then hurled a dagger packed with power at the bandit leader bellowing orders.
Thwip—!
But he was no slouch. He parried it effortlessly with his iron club.
Ting!
Sparks flew as it ricocheted; I clicked my tongue.
"Tch, bandit scum with real skill."
The Green Forest leader flinched at the heavy impact vibrating through his hands from just blocking a mere dagger.
"Such force from a petty dagger...? That guy's a top-tier inner expert."
I plunged past the spear-wielders, severing wrists left and right with my Red Ying Dagger.
I was wielding the Dark Emperor Supreme Heaven Sword forms with a dagger.
Designed for longswords, it was tricky to judge distances with a short blade—but my long-honed close-quarters sense made it work.
And it was damn effective.
My dagger carved through the swarming Green Forest elites one by one.
Modern fighting arts evolved for one-on-one; in group fights, this world's techniques shone brighter.
I danced the dagger like a god, stabbing chests, slashing napes and armpits without hesitation.
It was pure Krav Maga.
I'd seen it in that movie Uncle, got hooked, and trained a bit under an instructor.
Plus, this body's original owner was a Shadow Squad ace with ghostly dagger work.
Layering on the Dark Emperor Supreme Sword forms unlocked something profound.
My imperfect Krav Maga fused with Demonic Cult dagger arts, filling each other's gaps—the sword art's essence binding it all.
Indescribable, but my body flowed with it seamlessly.
I didn't know yet: my surging inner energy had sharpened my senses and instincts dramatically.
Yang Cho-gun was mowing down bandits too.
Unlike me, he struck with minimal motion—deflect, thrust, repeat endlessly.
Not killing blows.
Thrusts to disable, hitting as many as possible in seconds.
His rapier tip alone dripped red after skewering ten-plus bandits.
Then nets and arrows rained on him.
"Damn it!"
He whipped out his mangoshee hastily.
Shredding nets and deflecting arrows, he focused on defense.
Glancing sideways, worried for Hwang Tae-seong.
But it was needless.
Tae-seong had drawn his dagger, shredded the nets, and even flung one at the enemy leader.
Missed, but solid effort.
And now he wielded that dagger like a possessed master.
Yang Cho-gun couldn't hide his shock.
His Western martial arts emphasized minimalism for lethal hits.
But Tae-seong's dagger work was faster, deadlier.
Defense and offense in one fluid motion.
Most dodge back from a blade. Tae-seong surged forward instead.
The foe lost range and angle, flailing.
Then Tae-seong blocked barehanded while his dagger struck.
Uncanny.
A martial art unheard-of in the Central Plains.
'Whoa, that's a style I've never seen. His fist work was alien enough, and now dagger arts too...? Is he like me, versed in foreign fighting styles?'