Crushing the Fourth Squad
I arrived at the destination I had already pictured in my mind. An arched passageway thickly overgrown with ivy. I waited in front of it for Dobar and Gegangs to catch up.
“You! Stay right there!”
When the distance between us had narrowed to a hair’s breadth, I spun around and dashed straight into the arched tunnel. Blinded by rage and desperate to catch me, they followed without the slightest suspicion.
I sprinted through the three-meter-long passage, burst out the other side, and swiftly cut the rope waiting nearby. The iron portcullises hanging above both entrances slammed down with a thunderous crash, sealing the tunnel completely. The two men were trapped inside.
“W-what the hell is this?!”
“D-don’t tell me… it was a trap?”
Caught completely off guard, they wore expressions of pure panic. In disbelief, they brushed aside the ivy vines clinging to the walls. Wooden planks were revealed beneath. Aside from the iron-barred entrances, the two-meter-high arched ceiling and walls were entirely made of wood.
“Tch! This piece of shit!”
The pair underestimated the structure. They kicked it with all their strength, smashed it with their sword hilts, and rammed it with their shoulders. Yet the construction didn’t budge an inch, let alone collapse or give way. Even after repeatedly battering the walls in a frantic attempt to escape, they eventually gave up, grimacing in pain from their own bruised bodies.
I watched them and let out a quiet chuckle. There’s no way they’re getting out. Marcus and I had built this thing to be ridiculously sturdy.
“It’s called a ‘Bear Trap.’ I made it especially to catch big, strong bastards like bears. What do you think? Do you like it?”
“L-let us out of here!”
“W-we were wrong! Hyun-woo!”
Dobar and Gegangs cried out with pitiful faces, begging for their lives. Seeing them grovel like that only confirmed they were nothing but trash. They had no intention of dying with any heroic dignity. Well, if they’d been men of real character, they wouldn’t have done all those filthy things in the first place. They wouldn’t have ended up caught in a beast’s snare either.
“Shut up.”
I put on a cold, serious expression and drew the repeating crossbow from behind my back. I loaded it and aimed through the iron bars. Both men flinched at the same time, their faces twisting with fear as they stumbled backward.
“D-don’t do it!”
“Hiiik! I-I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna!”
Their whining grated on my ears. Time to shut them up for good.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
I shot Dobar in the head first, dropping him instantly, then turned to Gegangs. His pale face was splattered with Dobar’s blood.
“O-oh god…!”
As the despairing Gegangs looked up at the ceiling, I pulled the trigger.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Three arrows buried themselves in his face. His body toppled backward with a heavy thud.
“One left,” I muttered, letting out a long breath. My body ached all over. No matter how much I trained my stamina, exhaustion was still exhaustion. I wished I could be under some kind of tireless magic spell.
I was lost in idle thoughts about pulling the arrows out of the corpses when I opened the iron gate. That was when Vick’s voice came from nearby.
“This is fucking ridiculous.”
I turned my head. He was standing there, chuckling as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“To think I’d get done in by a greenhorn like you. Who the hell would believe that? Unbelievable.”
I glared at him and answered calmly.
“Don’t look so shocked. You’re next.”
“With your skills? A guy who’s only been in the bandit group for two months?”
He suddenly snapped his fingers as if something had occurred to him.
“Ah, right. Traps? Heh heh. If you’re thinking of luring me into some trap-filled area, you can forget it. On my way here I saw Freyr crushed to death under a log, Kembuk screaming as he got impaled by a spear, and those two idiots Dobar and Gegangs trapped and killed in that beast-cage thing. I have no intention of dancing to your tune.”
He puffed out his chest and added with emphasis,
“And if you try to run off somewhere else, I won’t foolishly chase after you. I’ll head straight back to the mountain stronghold and give the boss a full report. Not only did you slaughter the entire Fourth Squad, but you also secretly stole the food and goods we plundered.”
So he had searched the cave.
“Therefore, if you don’t want to get fucked, our fight will take place right here. Got it? Don’t even dream of running off to lure me somewhere else.”
I let out a small laugh.
“That’s exactly what I wanted.”
Vick’s eyebrows twitched with suspicion.
“Exactly what you wanted?”
“Yeah. From the beginning, I planned to fight you one-on-one without using traps or tricks.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“What kind of trick are you trying to pull this time? You think I’ll fall for it?”
“There are no tricks.”
I spoke firmly, then threw the repeating crossbow that had been slung across my back onto the ground. Next, I discarded the quiver and throwing stars at my waist. Now the only weapon I had left was the Dapo dagger.
Gripping the dagger, I stared Vick down and took up a fighting stance.
“Unlike the others, I intend to defeat you with pure skill.”
“You really think you have a chance against me?”
Vick spun the sword in his hand with a mocking flourish, radiating confidence.
“A pathetic rookie who’s never even gotten his hands dirty dares to look down on the leader of a plundering squad with years of combat experience?”
“You’re right. I don’t have much real combat experience. In fact, you could say I have none at all. That’s exactly why I want to face you fairly, without any tricks.”
“You have no real combat experience but you want to fight me? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m going to kill you and gain that first experience. If you don’t understand, there’s no need to. You won’t be able to think at all once you’re dead anyway.”
I had never killed anyone in a one-on-one fight before. So I was about to gain that experience now. In other words, Vick was my practice dummy. By winning this duel, I would learn the know-how and experience of killing a person in single combat and take one step closer to becoming a true assassin. That was the mindset I brought into this fight.
While I stood there trying to shake off my nerves, Vick remained relaxed. He scratched his forehead lazily and even tried to make small talk.
“Once you’re dead there won’t be anyone left to ask, so I’ll ask now. Where did you hide that woman you were carrying earlier? Her ass in that short skirt looked pretty tasty. I think she was wearing a maid outfit too. Anyway, once you’re dead she’ll need someone to take care of her. Why don’t you tell me so I can look after her?”
After he finished speaking, he let out a sleazy laugh, clearly imagining something disgusting.
I looked at his face with utter contempt.
“Even in this situation, all you can think about is women?”
“Why? Is it wrong for a man to want a woman?”
“It’s wrong for a beast like you to go into heat over a human woman.”
“Whoa~”
Vick let out an exaggerated sigh of disbelief.
“Getting lectured by a kid who hasn’t even been here as long as I have.”
He suddenly threw his sword to the ground.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I can beat a rookie like you with just my fists.”
So confident. Fine.
“I’ll beat the shit out of you with my fists until I feel better, then drag you back to the stronghold and kill you in front of everyone. If I kill you in secret, people might misunderstand me, right? After all, you committed the grave crimes of murdering the entire Fourth Squad and stealing our plunder. I need to let everyone know. You get what I’m saying, don’t you?”
“Just don’t regret fighting without your sword.”
I replied in a meaningful tone, then slowly walked toward Vick with the dagger in hand. How should I start? What kind of attack would deal him a fatal blow? My mind raced with countless thoughts.
In contrast, Vick simply stood there with a malicious grin on his face.
“If you can even leave a single scratch on me, I’ll give you a big reward. What should it be? How about I spare that woman’s life?”
The moment he finished speaking, I stepped into range and swung the dagger. But Vick dodged nimbly, and the blade missed. He sneered.
“What? You missed. Try haaaarder.”
Did I really miss? There was one thing this cocky bastard didn’t know. Although I had discarded every weapon except the dagger, I still had one more weapon. The golden orb.
With the golden orb, my usual abilities received a massive boost. Because during battle, I could read my opponent’s inner thoughts.
Wait, Vick. I said I would fight you fairly earlier, but this isn’t a trick. On Earth, there’s a saying that being born to good parents is also a kind of skill. Having the golden orb is a skill too. Anyway, that first attack was just to confirm whether I could hear his inner thoughts, just like when I fought that knight and the runaway carriage. The real fight starts now.
“I’m gonna fuck that maid bitch like this! Like this!”
Vick was clearly underestimating me. He made vulgar thrusting motions in the air as if having sex in a rear-entry position. I seized the opening, raised my dagger, and charged.
When I swung, Vick quickly stopped his obscene gesture and dodged with ease. He reflexively threw a punch at my face, but I flowed around it like water and countered with the dagger again.
“Oh?”
Vick dodged the attack and showed a slightly surprised expression, as if he hadn’t expected that. I was determined to wipe that look off his face. I kept pressing him relentlessly.
Meanwhile, perhaps because I was using a blade, Vick’s movements resembled a classic out-boxer in boxing. Instead of trading blows aggressively, he kept retreating, looking for openings, and throwing punches and kicks. When defending, his body reacted before his head, but when attacking, he used his brain. That worked in my favor. I was able to dodge his occasional attacks a split second faster and counter.
“You son of a bitch…!”
As time passed, Vick’s expression grew increasingly stiff. The rookie he had looked down on was showing skill on par with his own. He looked genuinely rattled. Maybe he realized he had bitten off more than he could chew.
I seized the opportunity and went for the kill. Vick kicked off a wooden pillar, flipped through the air, and landed behind me. He immediately launched a spinning back kick, but I dodged and his attack missed. In that instant, I slashed his calf.
Vick didn’t seem to feel the pain at first. The moment his attack failed, he instinctively tried to retreat and assume a defensive posture. But after about three seconds, his face contorted and he let out a pained groan.
“Aaargh!”
Blood poured from his left calf, soaking the ground. From the feeling when I cut him, the blade had gone in deep. Maybe halfway through the calf. I had felt it hit bone. The Dapo dagger was incredibly sharp.
“You bastard!”
As he ground his teeth in fury, I smiled at him.
“Now you’re starting to feel it, aren’t you? That you’re going to die.”
“Don’t make me laugh! You think someone like you can kill me?”
I had noticed it many times today—people who lived cheap lives had no real pride. He had boasted he would fight me bare-handed, but the moment he was in danger, his attitude flipped completely. Realizing his martial arts wouldn’t work on me, Vick hurriedly tried to retrieve the sword he had thrown on the ground.
But his left leg wouldn’t listen. When he tried to step forward, he couldn’t support his weight and collapsed on the spot. Cursing, he pushed himself up with his upper body, then began crawling rapidly on both knees.
“Why don’t you just give up?”
What a pathetic sight. I strode forward like the grim reaper and stabbed the dagger down into his back from behind.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“You’re finished.”
I whispered with a wicked smile near his ear. Vick let out a scream as if he refused to accept reality, then suddenly grabbed me in a desperate bear hug, locking his hands together.
The moment I read his thoughts, my eyes widened. Damn it. I let my guard down.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s die together, you bastard!”
Vick swiftly pulled me into his embrace and rolled violently to the side. We tumbled over and over like rolling kimbap until we fell off the edge of the ravine.
The slope was steep, so we rolled helplessly downward and splashed heavily into the valley stream.
“Die, Hyun-woooo!”
Even underwater, our fight continued. Vick strangled my neck while I stabbed his chest repeatedly until it looked like a honeycomb. And then, finally—
“Haaah!”
I burst out of the water with great effort and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. On the gently flowing surface, Vick’s corpse floated silently.
“I won…!”
I had taken down the entire Fourth Squad. Overwhelmed by a sense of accomplishment and exhilaration, I raised my arms in victory. Today had become the day of my first kill.