Chapter 257
Chapter 257
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 257
Chapter Title: 57. Beijing's Great Evil (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Huh?”
Having witnessed his own chest being pierced right before his eyes in real time, Yeong-woo’s eyes widened as he swiftly pulled his body back.
Ta-at!
It was the first time his body had been pierced by a human’s bare hand, which wasn’t even a blade.
‘What the hell is this guy, not even using a weapon?’
The continent really was different.
For the first time in quite a while, Yeong-woo felt a sense of tension.
He no longer felt invincible.
‘…That was close.’
Though the Berserker Talisman had blocked the pain, the foreign sensation from moments ago was enough to tell him.
The opponent’s attack had narrowly missed his heart.
And the reason for that was astonishing.
「The Supreme Swordsmanship’s Combat Assist has activated.」
‘…Combat Assist?’
The Supreme Swordsmanship he had obtained as a reward for unifying the Korean Peninsula.
This swordsmanship contained a mysterious new function called ‘Combat Assist.’
Then, the tooltip for Combat Assist filled Yeong-woo’s vision.
[Combat Assist]
|If the user fails to perfectly execute combat instructions, forced correction is applied within a 15% margin of error.
‘…Ah.’
In other words, even if Yeong-woo didn’t perfectly follow the hologram guide’s directions, it would adjust for him by up to 15%.
By forcibly moving his body, no less.
Thus, not only would attack precision improve, but defense as well…
‘Since it just said Combat Assist activated, that means without it, my heart would’ve been pierced, right?’
A insane function that might have just saved Yeong-woo’s life.
“……!”
Finally grasping the situation, Yeong-woo’s mouth fell open.
Of course, whether that middle-aged man’s purple demonic hand could pierce the Poison Dragon’s Heart, which was invulnerable to blades, was anyone’s guess.
‘But at the very least, it could’ve ripped out my heart.’
As Yeong-woo stared at his chest hole with a complicated expression, the equally baffled middle-aged man subtly raised his own right hand.
Chiiik…!
For the crime of damaging the Supreme Sword’s body, his right hand was rapidly corroding, soaked in highly toxic blood.
“That arm… it’s not gonna regenerate, is it?”
When Yeong-woo spoke while eyeing the opponent’s arm, already half-melted, the middle-aged man furrowed his brow deeply.
“I am Jang Jin-sam, the 6th Standing Member of the Central Political Bureau.”
“6th… what?”
Yeong-woo tilted his head at the somewhat verbose title.
However, everyone else present, excluding Yeong-woo, knew exactly who the middle-aged man was.
Jang Jin-sam, 61 years old.
The youngest among China’s top powerholders, the Standing Committee members, his name was one no Chinese could easily forget.
“…Who the hell are you?”
As he said this, Jang Jin-sam’s gaze fell on the hole in Yeong-woo’s chest.
If it wasn’t an illusion, the hole in question had shrunk a bit more than before.
The chest wound had already begun to heal.
Seeing this, Yeong-woo glanced at the stacks of money bags behind Jang Jin-sam and spoke.
“I am the Korean Peninsula’s Greatest Swordsman, Jeong Yeong-woo.”
“The Korean Peninsula…?”
Jang Jin-sam’s expression turned subtle.
He’d had some inkling, but hearing the opponent state his origin directly left him a bit confused.
“The Korean Peninsula is still divided in two, isn’t it?”
“Not anymore. I just said it—the Korean Peninsula’s Greatest Swordsman.”
“You’re saying the Korean Peninsula has unified?”
“That’s right.”
At Yeong-woo’s words, not only Jang Jin-sam but all the Chinese experts in the area buzzed in surprise.
Soon, Jang Jin-sam explained why the room had grown rowdy.
“…There’s Kim Jong-un up north.”
That damn Kim Jong-un.
‘He’s definitely a big name.’
But who knew better than Yeong-woo what had become of him?
“Kim Jong-un is dead. Your intel must be a bit slow.”
“What? Kim Jong-un is dead?”
Finally, Jang Jin-sam showed genuine shock.
Then, with a slightly different glint in his eyes, he looked at the hole in Jeong Yeong-woo’s chest.
“I thought some random drifter showed up, but it turns out something freakish crawled up from Joseon.”
But the opponent facing the 6th Standing Member Jang Jin-sam wasn’t just something freakish.
“That money— you took it from Shandong Province, right? Hand it over first.”
Jeong Yeong-woo was a nationwide robber who had come to China.
* * *
When Yeong-woo pointed at the money bags with the tip of his Bastard Sword, Jang Jin-sam—who had been composed until then—radiated a chilling aura.
“You crazy bastard, you must be suicidal.”
His body was muscular in a way unfit for his sixty-some years with graying hair.
Standing at an imposing 2 meters tall, when he wrapped his entire form in purple ability energy, he looked every bit the demon.
Having dared to covet Beijing’s treasury—the money Yeong-woo sought—Jang Jin-sam resolved to unleash his full power.
Of course, even in this moment, Yeong-woo was analyzing the opponent’s traits.
‘Ah, his severed arm isn’t regenerating either. So this guy isn’t invincible.’
Moreover, his skin hadn’t melted from mere highly toxic blood.
That meant the Bastard Sword’s blade would slice into that body quite nicely too.
‘Looks like he normally fights barehanded with some kind of fist technique, without a weapon.’
If so, their reach difference was at least 6 meters.
Thanks to the Dullahan Sword’s properties registered in the weapon codex applying to the Bastard Sword, he could now extend its blade length to 6.6 meters.
Swish.
Certain of victory, Yeong-woo slowly lowered the Bastard Sword to the floor and said,
“Kill me if you can. Let’s see what tricks you’ve got.”
“You…!”
Ultimately provoked, Jang Jin-sam hooked his left hand viciously and charged.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
「Sensory stat temporarily increased from 3,400 to 7,042.」
Pouring out an enormous sensory value to boot.
‘Wh-what the hell is this?’
At this point, Yeong-woo was certain.
As expected, the Standing Committee members of the Political Bureau, including Im Du-pyeong, were unmistakably alien proxies.
‘Which company are these bastards sponsored by?’
Flustered by Jang Jin-sam’s far higher-than-expected stats, Yeong-woo nonetheless stuck to his original plan and ordered the Golden Goblin.
“Grab the money! Hurry! Now!”
The reason Yeong-woo shouted this order so loudly was…
-Kee-it!
Not only to ensure the Golden Goblin obeyed in time.
“Damn it, you bastards?”
But also to distract Jang Jin-sam, whose top priority was clearly guarding the tribute.
-Kekket!
As the goblin darted toward the money bags with its signature nimbleness, sure enough, Jang Jin-sam whipped his head around.
Thud!
And in that instant…
-Pwaaaaak!
Accompanied by Popu Tenta’s horrific trumpet blast, the Bastard Sword gripped in Yeong-woo’s hand swung at unbelievable speed.
Whiiiiiing!
So fast that even Dalian Sword Hero Cheon Ju-rin, who had been watching the two demons’ battle intently, couldn’t process it.
Ssat!
In the blink of an eye, a red trajectory crossed Jang Jin-sam’s left arm.
And then.
“Huh?”
With Jang Jin-sam’s startled yelp, his left forearm hit the ground.
In just three exchanges, he had lost both arms.
“What… what was that?”
“Did you see that? Just now?”
The surrounding spectators only grasped the situation after Jang Jin-sam’s arm thudded to the floor.
Cheon Ju-rin had at least sensed the sword’s swing, but the other ordinary swordmasters hadn’t followed the blade’s movement at all.
‘Where the hell did this maniac come from?’
Unable to close her gaping mouth since earlier, Cheon Ju-rin stared at the foreigner’s three-character title.
『Supreme Sword』
In this world, the strong weren’t made overnight.
Especially not masters who had reached that level.
‘Th-that’s literally the Supreme Sword.’
As Cheon Ju-rin cautiously sheathed her own sword at her waist, the golden-skinned goblin scooped up the money bags stacked on the side.
-Kiki!
And at the same moment, Jang Jin-sam…
“Kraaaagh!”
Had lost all composure and was screaming in agony.
But not because of his detached arms—purely from the pain.
He was finally suffering the Golden Punishment’s pain-infliction effect.
‘What the? Why all of a sudden?’
Did he have gear that delayed pain or something?
Yeong-woo tilted his head but kept a safe distance from the opponent regardless.
If Im Du-pyeong and his subordinates truly had alien sponsors, it wouldn’t be strange if they had some last-ditch technique.
“Hey, Mr. Jin-sam.”
“Krgh!”
“Alien proxy, right? Which company?”
A conversation so contextless that ordinary people couldn’t even follow.
But Jang Jin-sam’s answer was unexpectedly ‘I don’t know.’
“D-don’t know! That crap!”
“That crap…?”
And oddly, Yeong-woo caught a glimpse of the man’s sincerity in how he described it as ‘that crap.’
If he truly had an alien sponsor, he wouldn’t dare call it ‘that crap’—he’d sooner shut his mouth.
“Then where’d this power come from? You’re not wearing any gear.”
As Yeong-woo prodded near Jang Jin-sam’s groin with the flat of the Bastard Sword to frisk him, the man barely spat out words through gritted teeth.
“Th-this… power was granted directly by Chairman Im Du-pyeong! It’s not some alien crap!”
“…Ah.”
Yeong-woo nodded at Jang Jin-sam’s statement.
“So Im Du-pyeong’s the proxy. Or…”
Yeong-woo started to say more but closed his mouth.
‘Or maybe Im Du-pyeong’s just an alien himself?’
No matter how supreme a master, he’d never heard or seen of one sharing power with others.
Sure, pre-Reset China had a population of 1.42 billion—28 times South Korea’s.
So he couldn’t claim to know the whole world based on his limited experience raiding the Korean Peninsula at best.
But still, there were limits.
‘It’s not like he’s mass-producing jiangshi—what, he can churn out masters like this by the handful?’
In Yeong-woo’s eyes, Jang Jin-sam’s prowess was such that even seven or eight of Seoul’s Greatest Swordsmen couldn’t guarantee victory.
In other words, if Im Du-pyeong could personally create such masters, wasn’t it more realistic to see him as an alien rather than human?
This was the post-Reset world, after all.
‘What the hell is Earth turning into, with trash like this running the show?’
He’d planned to kill him anyway, but if Im Du-pyeong really was an alien, he had even more reason to.
As his late great-uncle—who had no choice but to become a ghost—had said, Seoul… no, this Earth belonged to humans.
Thus, for the greater good, Yeong-woo reluctantly turned his sword toward the Dalian Sword Hero and Dalian City’s experts.
“Alright, everyone drop your weapons and hand over all your money. Now.”
At last, Yeong-woo began his first official duty as the Korean Peninsula’s elected ‘Greatest Swordsman.’