Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Hidden Boss Battle and a Single Moment of Superiority
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1.
[Story Mode]
A sage with a flowing white beard.
His benevolent smile and leisurely demeanor
instilled strong trust in him
just by looking at him.
Charm.
The irresistible force that manipulates the opponent's emotions
simply by existing.
That mysterious power quelled the Silent Swordmaster's hostility.
Contrary to expectations of it baring its true colors
or launching a surprise attack,
quickly diving into the subjugation battle.
The sage pretended as if nothing was amiss.
Instead, he looked at the Silent Swordmaster with pitying eyes.
[Birds chirping, insects buzzing, a rabbit darting through the bushes]
[The end befalling this small, peaceful forest. It is due to the plague's energy. The very plague harbored by that half-demon and the plague spirits.]
The sage gazed at the human-faced spirit with sunken eyes
and swung a talisman drawn from his bosom.
Zap!
The human-faced spirit, startled by the sparks from the talisman.
At her retreating feet,
talismans had been subtly flung and densely embedded,
blocking her path of retreat.
The human-faced spirit, sealed by talismans accompanied by electric shocks,
unable to move forward or backward.
The talisman emitted a blue glow,
and ominous lightning surged up in a cylindrical form,
beginning to close in on the human-faced spirit.
At most one minute.
It was clear that once the cylinder fully closed,
the human-faced spirit would die.
[To the sage's persuasion, you...]
1. Believe the sage. (Human-Faced Spirit dies)
2. Believe the human-faced spirit. (Human-Faced Spirit survives)
Amid the blue lightning weaving geometric beauty through the air,
the human-faced spirit, a symbol of ugliness,
wails in agony.
Right and wrong are invisible,
but the distinction between beauty and ugliness is starkly contrasted.
In the midst of it all.
[Believe the human-faced spirit. (Human-Faced Spirit survives)]
Her sword tore through part of the talisman,
roughly pulling the human-faced spirit out of the cylinder.
Bang!
Zzzap!
The lightning, condensed into a single point in the air,
sparked brilliantly before vanishing into a point.
The sage's fluent eloquence.
Though she lacked the eloquence to counter it.
Hae Eung-eung knew.
In a world divided merely by beauty and ugliness,
right and wrong do not exist.
How many handsome martial artists from the murim
had been ensnared by her, at the peak of charm.
In the murim rife with affairs of loyalty and betrayal,
how many claimed to be righteous faction members.
'The world isn't divided in black and white.'
Those hiding ugly natures beneath beautiful exteriors,
those with beautiful souls beneath ugly exteriors,
villains exploiting the central plains under the righteous banner,
sages protecting commoners under the unorthodox banner—
all had taught her.
Right and wrong
are judged by one's own will.
Not by following
the imposed justice shown by others.
The sage extended his hand once more.
New information.
A clue to something.
The sage, with reasons hard to judge hastily and importance that deterred rashness.
Before the cunning rhetoric stirring human hearts,
Hae Eung-eung straightened the sword in her mind.
'Only one thing to consider.'
Who she chose to stand by.
She chose the human-faced spirit.
Thus, the sage, enemy of the human-faced spirit,
no matter how valuable or beneficial his words,
all deserved
to be cut down
without mercy.
[To the sage's repeated persuasion, you...]
1. Believe the sage. (Subjugate human-faced spirit)
2. Believe the human-faced spirit. (Subjugate sage)
Her blade struck its target without a moment's hesitation.
[Believe the human-faced spirit. (Subjugate sage)]
Slash!
The sage's upper body halved in a single stroke.
A grievous wound that wouldn't be strange if it ended his life.
The sage's name tag, inscribed in blue,
its lettering
along with his bisected upper body
dyed a deep crimson like blood,
and his form swelled with immense momentum.
Rumble...
The ground cracked,
houses collapsed entirely,
the forest crumbled,
dirt and dust billowed thickly—
the Great Forest convulsed as if struck by an earthquake.
At its epicenter,
20 meters tall,
100 meters long,
filling the view like a six-story building—
a colossal yokai with the body of a giant centipede.
The wicked monster that mimicked a human
lowered its massive head,
sneering at the Silent Swordmaster and human-faced spirit.
Following the fake boss human-faced spirit subjugation battle,
the true yokai of the Great Forest,
Yokai Sage Mihura.
Before the yokai that revealed its true form,
the hidden boss Yokai Sage Mihura subjugation battle began.
2.
[Player Mode]
Yokai Sage Mihura was not merely gigantic in size.
When he raised his enormous tail,
the mountain-like tail cast shadows even over the rocky area barren of trees,
instilling terror with an apocalyptic sense of overwhelming pressure.
"Ah, aaah...!"
The human-faced spirit, completely frozen in fear.
Hae Eung-eung slapped her cheek hard at the pathetic sight.
Smack!
"Ow! That hurts!"
"..."
"What's with that look? I-I wasn't scared or anything!"
The human-faced spirit quickly came to her senses and said.
"For now, we hold out until an opportunity comes. With a body that ridiculously huge and brute, it'll tire out fast for sure."
Hae Eung-eung nodded.
She and the human-faced spirit trampled the wreckage of the half-collapsed Great Forest,
evading the range of the slowly descending giant legs
and dashing out of the shadowed area.
The chat in chaos.
Unlike the panicked viewers,
the Silent Swordmaster, capturing the attention of the massive foe and countless viewers,
showed not a hint of agitation,
dashing beyond the attack range with her signature swift feet.
"Hurts my pride."
While everyone praised it as amazing,
wondering how she unlocked this hidden boss battle,
highly evaluating the Silent Swordmaster's physical prowess
and judgment to trust the half-demon.
Only one person
Speedmaster felt genuine humiliation.
'Fast, but not as fast as me.'
Everything the Silent Swordmaster could do,
he could do as well.
However, for Speedmaster, who played by the game's script,
following the set route
and standard play,
there was no in-game time.
'Strong, but not as strong as me.'
Having already cleared multiple fields,
in the Great Forest half-turned swamp,
even heading to the northern end as the sage demanded,
defeating the fake boss guarding the altar,
halting the ritual—
what awaited him was
the already-swamped field
and the vanished sage.
'Everything the Silent Swordmaster could do, I could have too.'
Yet he suspected nothing.
He was too busy enjoying and following the path before him.
There was plenty to enjoy as is.
A full 10 years.
Even after 10 years since Half-Demon Gorge's release.
In that long time, he thought he'd seen the end his way
and drew his own limit line.
"Everyone, let me make one promise."
"I think I can do everything the Silent Swordmaster is doing."
"Of course, I can't disregard the pioneer Silent Swordmaster. So I'll make a promise."
Wounded pride,
burning competitive spirit,
respect for the pioneer—
his unique compromise encompassing all emotions.
"I won't start Half-Demon Gorge until the Silent Swordmaster dies at least once or reaches an ending."
"But if the Silent Swordmaster dies once or reaches an ending, then I'll start tackling the Half-Demon Gorge hidden route too."
He knew that making such a promise on someone else's stream
would draw his viewers to watch for when the Silent Swordmaster dies.
Thus, it was a handicap.
You're ahead now,
but if you falter or retreat even once,
a top-tier physical streamer could catch up and surge ahead anytime—
his confidence.
Viewer count,
player skill,
ability to progress Half-Demon Gorge—
confidence only the absolute best could show, to surpass the Silent Swordmaster in all.
The heat, thought to be at its peak,
boiled like lava in the atmosphere.
The Silent Swordmaster ran and ran.
Toward the centipede's body slamming and piercing the ground.
'Give it your all, Silent Swordmaster.'
With maximum physicality,
demonstrating maximum potential.
Her chance to pull ahead was only once.
Until the day her undefeated legend
meets its end.