Chapter 144
Chapter 144
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 144
Chapter Title: 35. Innate (1)
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Asphalt to the eyes.
It was a technique somewhat beneath the dignity of the fourth piece of equipment from the Golden Rain achievement, but its effect was tremendous.
「Ugh?」
Because Son Jun-yong, the fearsome Cheorwon County Administrator charging in with unstoppable momentum, halted his movement in an instant.
「You sneaky bastard.」
But who was Son Jun-yong?
A man who had received the unanimous votes of Cheorwon County's residents in the exile poll and been banished from this world.
His current body was that of an ogre standing a full four meters tall, which meant there was quite a distance between his eyes and the ground—enough to fully block the asphalt chunks.
「Sensory stat temporarily increased from 1,500 to 3,647.」
His sensory stat was also far beyond that of most First Swords.
‘So he was an enhancer type after all.’
Yeong-woo let out a heavy breath as he checked the sensory theft notification.
It was even higher than Lee Seon-ho, the Death Knight who had also been an enhancer-type mutant.
「A guy pulling cheap tricks like this calls himself Korea’s Supreme Swordsman?」
Son Jun-yong let out a furious growl next.
He was about to retaliate against the卑劣 sneak attack.
Bwooom!
As his massive muscles unleashed another burst of tremendous power, the First Swords of Gyeonggi Province watching the scene dropped their jaws.
“Wha—!”
“No……!”
To the two of them, that strike looked utterly impossible to counter.
Whoooosh!
The enormous flail slicing through the air with terrifying speed.
Yet the so-called Korea’s Supreme Swordsman remained calmly within the enemy’s range.
“Dodge, get out of there!”
“Aaah!”
Yeoncheon First Sword Jo Seong-sik.
Cheorwon First Sword Kim Kwang-yong.
The moment the two let out near-screams, Korea’s Supreme Swordsman Jeong Yeong-woo drew his blade like lightning.
Claaang!
But it wasn’t Yeong-woo’s sword that actually blocked Son Jun-yong’s flail.
“Huh……?”
What blocked the enhancer-type mutant’s attack—sparks flying everywhere—was none other than.
「Golden Trajectory」 - Legendary Two-Handed Greatsword
【Auto-Combat】
|On the ground
-Weeeeng!
The legendary-grade greatsword humming with tremendous force.
「Wh-what… is this?」
Realizing at last that the golden greatsword was moving on its own, Son Jun-yong’s face twisted in confusion.
Of course, Yeong-woo was just as shocked.
‘What the hell? How insane is its output?’
The Golden Trajectory that had withstood Son Jun-yong’s attack wasn’t planted in the ground—it still hovered in the air.
And in that moment.
—Break (破)
The ‘Break’ markers, meaning he could shatter the opponent’s stance, floated up endlessly in Yeong-woo’s vision.
Without hesitation, Yeong-woo thrust his black sword toward Son Jun-yong while calling out to the golden goblin somewhere nearby.
“Underdog!”
The goblin perched on Negrig’s waist with arms crossed hurriedly opened its subspace pouch.
-Keeek!
Hut!
It let out an urgent cry and tossed the requested Underdog to Yeong-woo.
「You bastards……!」
Spotting yet another sword added to the battlefield from outside his range, Son Jun-yong wore an indignant expression.
For some reason, it felt like he was getting mobbed.
And in reality.
-Woooong!
Matching the timing of Yeong-woo’s black sword thrust, the Golden Trajectory charged at Son Jun-yong.
Whoooosh!
The pressure was worlds apart between a two-meter-tall First Sword thrusting a blade and a sword that was two meters long hurtling in all on its own.
Naturally, the latter was far more terrifying.
「Eek!」
The greatsword that had just targeted his eyes with asphalt chunks.
「D-don’t come closer!」
Son Jun-yong swung his flail in panic, blocking the Golden Trajectory first.
Kaaang!
At that moment, ‘Kill’ markers popped up over the openings in his body.
—Kill (殺)
Meaning the opponent’s life was forfeit.
‘It’s over.’
Underdog arrived right on cue, so Yeong-woo tossed the black sword aside like trash and grabbed it.
Thud!
Witnessing the scene, the Yeoncheon and Cheorwon First Swords stared at Yeong-woo with eyes full of near-awe.
“Whoa, what is that?”
“No way, shit…….”
To them, the sight of him swapping swords mid-fight like discarding an empty magazine was a massive shock.
Add to that the halo effect of the ‘Korea’s Supreme Swordsman’ title.
The level of combat was just too different.
「You son of a……!」
Meanwhile, Son Jun-yong gritted his teeth as he kicked the Golden Trajectory clinging to his flail.
He could see Korea’s Supreme Swordsman—who had swapped blades—preparing something ominous.
—Don’t these guys know the word ‘easy’?
Shoooosh!
The blade tip was already closing in on his gut, so Son Jun-yong’s best option was to twist his body and hide behind the flail.
If he could just block this exchange somehow, smashing the fool who’d entered his range wouldn’t be hard.
Just as Son Jun-yong tried to dodge in a panic.
Thuuud!
An unexpected impact rang out, and his lower body briefly lifted into the air.
「……?」
Startled, Son Jun-yong reflexively glanced down, and a blinding golden flash assaulted his eyes.
—Ah.
That卑劣 greatsword from earlier had swept his legs, tripping him.
And right after.
Shwick!
The Underdog, thrust with blinding speed, pierced his abdomen.
「Gahk!」
An attack so powerful it shredded the ogre’s tough hide like tofu.
「Underdog」 - Mutant One-Handed Sword
【25% power increase against targets larger than the user.】
But that didn’t claim Son Jun-yong’s life.
What fully severed his lifeline was.
-Weeeeng!
The Golden Trajectory, which had soared high into the air before plummeting straight down.
Shwick!
Like a guillotine blade dropping clean, the greatsword severed Son Jun-yong’s head in one stroke, then returned to Yeong-woo’s side as if nothing had happened.
-Eeeeng……
Except now its 40-centimeter-wide blade was caked in thick blood.
‘Phew… it’s done, right?’
The events had unfolded so fast that even Yeong-woo blinked in disbelief for a while.
Lucky for him he was the attacker—if he’d fought the owner of this Golden Trajectory, he wouldn’t bet on his own victory.
An ‘auto-combat’ weapon was that much of a threatening wildcard.
And.
‘Its power is ridiculously strong. Well, it’s legendary-grade, so maybe expected… but still, this much?’
Yeong-woo stared blankly at the Cheorwon County Administrator Son Jun-yong’s cleanly decapitated corpse.
Then his body melted away into the air like dissolving, leaving behind a golden orb.
-Kit!
Next, the golden goblin dashed to the orb and glanced at Yeong-woo.
-Keet?
Asking if it should store this in the subspace pouch too, probably.
「……」
Yeong-woo nodded in approval for the orb’s collection, then turned his gaze to the two First Swords standing there like mice.
“You two okay? No injuries?」
“…Huh?”
“Ah… y-yes! We’re fine!”
The two Gyeonggi First Swords, who’d been dazed for a moment, gulped hard as they watched the golden goblin toss the orb into some pocket.
That was basically 3 million karma from Cheorwon vanishing into thin air for them.
Of course, it was money they’d never have gotten anyway.
Without this Korea’s Supreme Swordsman, not only would they be splattered on the ground, but the whole Cheorwon area would be a wasteland.
「……」
As the two First Swords stood there dejected, Yeong-woo glanced at their outfits and asked.
“You’re both soldiers, right?”
As Yeong-woo said, both were in military uniforms.
The difference was Yeoncheon First Sword Jo Seong-sik wore sergeant stripes, while Cheorwon First Sword Kim Kwang-yong had private first class.
“Yes, things just… turned out that way…….”
Private First Class Kim Kwang-yong, the ex-soldier, gave an awkward smile first.
Sergeant Jo Seong-sik, however, took a firmer stance.
“Belated greetings. Army Provisional Headquarters, Yeoncheon Heavy Weapons Company, 2nd Platoon Leader, Sergeant Jo Seong-sik.”
He then snapped a knife-hand salute.
Snap!
“Ah, honor to meet you. Sergeant Jo Seong-sik.”
Yeong-woo started to return the salute but bowed his head instead, worried it might be rude.
“But Heavy Weapons Company still exists?”
Curious after the introduction, Yeong-woo asked, and Jo Seong-sik shook his head with a bitter look.
“Entire unit KIA on Day 2.”
“…Ah. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. My failing.”
He’d assumed Day 2 mutants were similar difficulty to Day 1, Jo Seong-sik explained.
So he’d handled them like the day before with his company, but only he—the First Sword—survived.
Small mercy: most of the other unit assigned to clear Yeoncheon’s monsters back then lived.
‘So the soldiers I saw in Yeoncheon earlier were those survivors.’
Yeong-woo grasped Yeoncheon’s situation.
“The Army Provisional Headquarters is the successor to 5th Division, 36th Regiment.”
Not that 36th Regiment had the highest survivor rate post-Reset—just mostly them, mixed with bits from nearby units, Jo Seong-sik clarified.
In short, soldiers guarding Yeoncheon area had gathered on their own post-Reset to maintain an army structure temporarily.
“So no contact with other units yet.”
“Yes. Stabilizing our zone comes first.”
Only natural.
It was just Day 4 post-Reset.
Yeong-woo had zipped between South Korea, North Korea, and dungeons in a day, but most survivors were gasping just blocking daily mutants and monsters.
“It’s name-only for now… but there’s a provisional government in Seoul. Maybe visit and talk to them?”
“Ah, really?”
Jo Seong-sik brightened but couldn’t hide his skeptical eyes.
Hard to buy with daily wars raging.
Yeong-woo got it, so he wrapped up by giving the government office location: Yongsan Park north end.
“So… Cheorwon’s under soldier policing now too?”
Cheorwon First Sword Kim Kwang-yong’s eyes widened at that.
“No. Cheorwon has no regular army…….”
As Kim Kwang-yong trailed off, Sergeant Jo Seong-sik spoke up.
“Cheorwon’s held together by our Kim Kwang-yong First Sword here, and our provisional HQ helps with civilian security some.”
“Ah.”
Our Kim Kwang-yong First Sword……
It said a lot.
Private First Class Kim Kwang-yong wielded so much power the Army Provisional HQ couldn’t treat him as just a ‘private.’
“Anyway, glad to hear it. Didn’t know you were holding the front lines like this. Thanks to you, Seoul’s safe.”
Yeong-woo said it half-sincere, half-courtesy, and Jo Seong-sik’s eyes went wide.
“Seoul’s safe… thanks to us?”
“Ah… did I misspeak?”
Yeong-woo startled at the reaction.
Sergeant Jo Seong-sik shook his head and elaborated.
“No, not a misspeak… just curious how you handled Uijeongbu. But you’re so strong, makes sense…….”
As Jo Seong-sik tried to back off self-convinced, Yeong-woo grabbed him.
“No, what’s this Uijeongbu issue? First I’ve heard.”
“Huh? But Uijeongbu got totally razed—surely they headed for Seoul?”
At this point, Yeong-woo realized he’d completely missed one of this world’s big incidents.
He’d only come to northern Gyeonggi today, after all.
“Who exactly are ‘they’ from Uijeongbu?”
Yeong-woo asked, and Jo Seong-sik pointed south.
“Prisoners from Uijeongbu Prison.”
“Ah.”
Yeong-woo let out a groan and turned south with Jo Seong-sik—just then, a small vibration buzzed from his chest.
「……?」
Fishing it out, he found a fountain pen he hadn’t used in ages.
「Wanted Poster」 - Narrative Script
【Looking for what you desire.】
|Father