The Flood of Vengeance
The bandits, including Arkan, let out hollow laughs.
Alcohol?
If he had given a more plausible reason, fear might have come before rage.
Arkon ground his teeth and drew his sword.
“You attacked us just for some booze?”
Kang Yoonsoo did not answer.
He slowly stood up and began rifling through the corpses of the bandits.
Glittering blades, accessories with special properties, magic staves.
Unlike ordinary bandits, their possessions were astonishingly high quality.
Kang Yoonsoo picked out the decent items from among the bandits’ gear and stuffed them into his dimensional pouch.
Seeing him ignore their questions and only loot the bodies, Arkon gnashed his teeth furiously.
“You must be out of your mind. You fearless little bastard.”
Arkon charged at Kang Yoonsoo and swung his sword at his back.
At that moment, Kang Yoonsoo spun around instantly.
It was a swift movement.
In the blink of an eye, he drew his sword from its sheath and slashed down at Arkon’s neck.
“Guhk—!”
A thin wound appeared on Arkon’s nape. He made a startled face and tried to retreat.
But Kang Yoonsoo showed no hesitation.
Far from being flustered by the sudden ambush, his fierce slashes tore through Arkon’s body.
“Aaaargh—!”
Arkon was struck in several vital spots and died on the spot.
Without sparing the cold corpse even a glance, Kang Yoonsoo turned his gaze to Arkan.
His voice was dry and flat.
“Hand over the booze.”
“If you want it, I’ll give it to you. But first, you’ll have to kill me.”
Arkan spoke with a voice full of fighting spirit.
The leader of the Crossblade Bandits drew a dazzling sword.
A red aura swirled around the blade.
It was a magic sword with special properties.
The other bandits also gripped their weapons tightly.
Kang Yoonsoo stared at them with indifferent eyes.
The other bandits might be manageable, but Arkan was no easy opponent in his current state.
He had encountered this bandit leader several times in his past lives.
Not only was his level high, but the equipment that looked light on the surface was actually high-grade.
Above all, the weapon the bandit boss carried was a magic sword.
A blade imbued with magical effects was not only a rare item of great value but also a powerful weapon.
On the other hand, although Kang Yoonsoo didn’t show it, he was currently extremely exhausted.
The pain from the wound on his stomach was so severe that the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly.
Honestly, facing even one person right now felt overwhelming.
Whether he had noticed this or not, Arkan looked at Kang Yoonsoo and sneered.
“You seem fairly skilled, but after slaughtering three hundred men, your stamina must be depleted. Your level doesn’t look all that high after all?”
The Crossblade Bandits’ leader took a step toward Kang Yoonsoo.
Arkan’s eyes burned with fury.
“You’ll pay dearly for turning my bandit group into this mess.”
Kang Yoonsoo quickly ran through strategies in his mind.
Since Arkan wasn’t a knight, he couldn’t use the Imperial Formless Sword Technique to confuse him like he had with Renox.
He wanted to resurrect the bandits’ corpses as undead, but that was impossible.
The Mass Corpse Revival skill consumed his entire mana pool.
He had already used a huge amount of mana with the Lightning Storm Staff, so reviving undead was out of the question.
The only undead he currently had stored in his summoning pool were fifty-two zombie black bears.
Should he summon the undead he had and fight head-on?
Or should he summon White and run?
As he weighed his options, Arkan’s red sword suddenly closed in right before Kang Yoonsoo’s nose.
The sharp blade was about to pierce his cheek at terrifying speed.
Clang—!
A longsword forced its way in front of Kang Yoonsoo and deflected Arkan’s blade at an angle.
It was a move impossible with ordinary swordsmanship—something only a master swordsman could perform.
The man on horseback glared fiercely at the bandit.
“It’s been a while, Arkan.”
Arkan looked at the man and furrowed his brow deeply.
He ground his teeth and shouted.
“Renox!”
Kang Yoonsoo looked back and forth between the knight and the bandit.
Renox and Arkan.
Based on his past lives, he knew these two were acquainted.
Thanks to that, he had time to observe the situation and think.
Renox sheathed his sword and stared coldly at Arkan.
“When you escaped after raping Lady Kirnel during your apprenticeship days, there were many rumors. I never imagined we would meet again in a place like this, Arkan.”
“That’s what I was going to say.”
Arkan growled.
At that moment, the sound of horse hooves rang out in succession.
The knight order members following Renox arrived late, riding up the slope.
They had heard the screams coming from the bandits’ base in the distance and had rushed here.
The noisy movement of the horses sent ripples across the large lake beyond the embankment.
“How horrific…!”
“How could something like this happen in this world!”
The knights were horrified as they looked at the mangled corpses scattered around.
Eric, who was practically a rookie, even dry-heaved.
Renox glanced sideways at Kang Yoonsoo, who was covered in blood.
“Did you kill these bandits?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not my place to say, but… impressive.”
“They were all heinous criminals. My crime score didn’t go up.”
Renox let out a sigh and shook his head.
“I have a few questions for that man over there. I suggest you step back.”
“Your humble way of speaking hasn’t changed at all. In your memory, was I the kind of guy who obeyed your every word?”
The two men radiated killing intent toward each other.
A knight and a bandit were natural enemies simply by the nature of their classes.
Knights swore oaths to the empire or their houses. Breaking that loyalty or committing dishonorable acts came with heavy penalties.
The reason knights valued honor and pride wasn’t just a matter of conscience—it was directly tied to their combat power.
On the other hand, the more crimes bandits committed and the more they plundered, the more benefits they received.
However, they couldn’t live stable lives like knights and had to constantly evade investigators.
Two people who were polar opposites in class were now facing each other with swords drawn. It was only natural that their hostility reached its peak.
Renox pointed his sword at Arkan and said,
“I don’t want to waste blood or time. How about we settle this with a one-on-one duel?”
At the stiff question, the bandits burst into mocking laughter.
Arkan also sneered.
Proposing a one-on-one fight against bandits was exactly like Renox.
But surprisingly, Arkan nodded without hesitation.
“Fine. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen your swordsmanship. If nothing else, during our apprenticeship days, no one could match your blade.”
Renox dismounted and approached with his sword in hand.
Arkan also drew his sword and stepped forward.
The knight order and the bandits formed a wide circle around the two men.
Only Kang Yoonsoo did not watch their fight. Instead, he stared at the embankment in the distance.
There was no referee to call the match, no host to announce the start.
But the moment their eyes met, Renox and Arkan instinctively charged at each other with swords raised.
Blade clashed against blade, scattering sparks.
Clang—!
Just from exchanging one blow, a faint vibration rippled through the air.
The two men locked swords until their hands trembled, then simultaneously stepped back.
It had been only one exchange, yet they could clearly feel the weight of the years the other had spent training.
Both men activated their skills at the same time.
“Blessing of the Wind upon my blade.”
“Bloodsword!”
They charged at each other, unleashing their signature sword techniques.
Renox’s dazzling blade and Arkan’s storm-like slashes collided violently.
Explosions erupted continuously from Arkan’s magic sword.
The sound of steel meeting steel became a requiem, and their swordplay was so fast it seemed like divine skill.
The grand and flashy sword dance was so mesmerizing that even the vicious bandits stared in a daze.
However, the situation gradually turned in Renox’s favor.
Despite not having particularly excellent equipment, the knight’s blade began to overwhelm the bandit’s sword.
In the final strike, Arkan was knocked backward, and Renox pointed his sword at his throat.
“You’ve grown lazy in your training, Arkan. Both your sword and your body have dulled.”
“Is that so?”
A bandit behind him swiftly threw a dagger.
Renox hurriedly swung his sword and deflected the flying dagger.
In that instant, Arkan quickly got up and stabbed at Renox’s abdomen.
The knight commander twisted his body in a hurry and avoided a direct hit, but he still suffered a serious wound.
“Commander!”
Renox’s face turned pale. He staggered backward.
Arkan licked the blood off his sword and cackled.
“The cowardly one always wins in the end.”
“That’s right.”
The one who spoke was none other than Kang Yoonsoo.
He slowly rose from his seat.
A plan to annihilate the bandits had just occurred to him.
He stretched out his right arm.
“Summon White, the White Wolf Monster.”
“Grrrrr—!”
The white-furred werewolf, White, was summoned.
The others looked on in shock, but Kang Yoonsoo paid them no mind and climbed onto White’s back.
With Kang Yoonsoo on his back, White charged forward at terrifying speed.
They came so close to Arkan that it looked like they would collide, but instead they veered up the mountain slope without crashing.
It was so fast that neither the bandits nor the knights could even react.
After all, how could people on foot or horseback possibly catch up to a werewolf’s agile sprint?
“Stop.”
White came to a halt on top of the solidly built log embankment.
One of the bandits shouted in alarm.
“T-that’s the dam holding back the mountain lake!”
The embankment that held back the massive lake in the mountain range.
It was normally built to stop enemies attacking from below.
Dozens of logs tied together with thick ropes formed the structure.
Kang Yoonsoo swung his sword and smashed part of the dam.
Crash—!
The dam’s balance shifted slightly, and a stream of water began to leak out.
Not only the bandits but even the knights looked panicked.
Arkan, his face flushed red with horror, shouted.
“W-what are you doing?! If that dam breaks, it’ll cause a massive landslide!”
“I know.”
Kang Yoonsoo swung his sword fiercely once more.
It was just one slash, yet the dam’s balance was violently twisted.
Water began pouring out in ever greater volumes.
By now, everyone had lost their minds.
“Damn it! What the hell are the guys guarding the dam doing?!”
“They’re all dead because of that bastard!”
“Run! If you want to live, run now!”
“Escort the commander! We’re getting out of here immediately!”
The knights hurriedly mounted their horses and fled the area as fast as they could.
Unfortunately, the bandits had no horses to escape on.
Even if they ran with all their might, they wouldn’t be able to outrun the flow of water.
The dam began to collapse, and the released water grew increasingly violent.
“Grrrrr—!”
White leaped high into the air.
Kang Yoonsoo drove his sword deep into the center of the dam.
The neatly arranged log pillars all shattered at once, and a torrent like a waterfall surged out with tremendous force.
The water, carrying ferocious pressure, swept away everything it touched.
The bandits were no exception.
“U-ugh—! S-save…!”
The bandits couldn’t even scream properly as they were swept away by the flood.
Even Arkan, who had fled the farthest, was hit by a massive wave of water at his feet.
Arkan, who had been glaring at Kang Yoonsoo with murderous intent as he stood in the safe zone, suddenly realized something.
At some point, the expensive liquor that had been hanging at his waist had disappeared.
But by the time he noticed, Arkan himself had already been caught up in the landslide.
If it had been used for its original purpose, the torrent would have been controlled to only sweep away the area below the base.
But Kang Yoonsoo had destroyed the dam immediately.
The ferocious landslide torrent swept away everything in the residence.
Kang Yoonsoo sat atop White and watched the scene with a calm expression.
A massive landslide has been triggered in the Hatar Mountains.
Since the only casualties were heinous criminals, your crime score has not increased.
Historians of later generations will likely reevaluate today’s disaster that swept away so many criminals.
The entire mountain path was now blocked by the flooded lake.
With this, the knight order could no longer pursue them, and the bandit group had been annihilated.
Kang Yoonsoo uncorked the liquor bottle.
He drank the alcohol while using the merciless landslide sweeping through the mountains as his snack.