Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Jegal One-Sword
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“Uwaaaah!”
Jegal Cheon-sang rises with a monstrous scream.
His bloodshot eyes glare at me before he grabs his sword again and points it my way.
With that, his aura sharpens even further.
He’s finally thinking of getting serious now.
Honestly, it felt a bit too late.
The numerous spectators he’d gathered himself had already witnessed his disgrace in full.
What was amusing was how every single one of their faces looked thrilled or delighted.
“Huh, heh heh….”
Just what kind of behavior had he shown them normally to elicit such reactions?
I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief when Jegal Cheon-sang’s savage voice rang out.
“You bastard…! What the hell are you?”
“The hand. Insulted by a rude punk.”
His continued cursing made me shed the superficial politeness I’d been wearing.
Jegal Cheon-sang’s eyebrows twitched once before he suddenly started spouting nonsense.
“Who’s pulling your strings? That Jegal Geun-yeong bastard, right?”
“…Huh?”
Ignoring my baffled reaction, Jegal Cheon-sang had already sunk into his own world.
“Ha, I knew that Jegal Geun-yeong prick resented me. The talentless shit was jealous that I was getting the clan’s support. That brainless fuck, even so, you think I’d go down that easy? Hiring an outsider to crush me?”
From what I could piece together from his ramblings, I’d somehow become the hidden master that Jegal Geun-yeong had prepared to beat down Jegal Cheon-sang.
I wondered just what thought process could lead to that conclusion.
He was the one who’d insulted the musician first, and he was the one who’d drawn all these spectators to humiliate me.
“You think I’ll go down that easy? I’m Jegal One-Sword, Jegal Cheon-sang! The greatest warrior of the Jegal Clan!”
From his words alone, he sounded like a true warrior proudly standing against schemes.
I shook my head with a hollow laugh.
Well, at least it was somewhat admirable that he refused to admit defeat.
Thanks to that, I’d get a chance to probe his protective aura a bit more.
“Haaap!”
I face Jegal Cheon-sang as he charges with a shout while I’m thinking that.
Jegal Cheon-sang rushes straight at me, gripping his sword with both hands and swinging down at my head.
In response, I raise my sword to block the blade falling toward my crown.
-Kaang!
The swords clash and bite into each other, sparks flying as a sharp metallic ring echoes.
“Krhaap!”
Jegal Cheon-sang bellows a beastly shout while pressing down on my sword.
The power in that strike is no joke.
His aura feels decent enough—looks like he’s stuffed himself full of spirit elixirs, as expected.
Confirming I was being pushed back in raw strength, I twist my sword in my hand to deflect his blade.
“Kuuk!?”
Losing his balance for a moment as the opposing force vanishes suddenly.
But he quickly regains his center and presses the attack.
From that brief response alone, I could tell Jegal Cheon-sang wasn’t just some idiot relying on inner energy—he had real skill as a warrior.
Too bad his personality was only half as good as his martial prowess.
-Kaang! Kaang!
Metallic clashes continually ring through the training ground.
I deflect his savagely incoming sword strikes this way and that, waiting for an opening.
I slip through gaps to swing and thrust, experimenting on Jegal Cheon-sang’s protective aura.
Wondering if it only strongly guarded specific areas, I stabbed at the bloodied spots again,
And unleashed consecutive strikes on close-range areas.
The results were all failures.
All my attacks were blocked by the protective aura.
Completely different from before.
Tilting my head, I tried striking different areas in rapid succession this time.
-Puk!
“Kuhk!”
This time, the result was different.
The first attack was blocked, but the second pierced the protective aura, carving another wound.
The same result as when I’d used Sword Shadow Heaven Canopy earlier.
So then….
“Kraaak! You call this a fight!? Are you toying with me!?”
An outburst of rage pounded my ears.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Jegal Cheon-sang.
His uniform, now half-ragged and soaked in blood.
Prodded and sliced all over by my probing sword, he looked quite pathetic.
Oops…. I’d unintentionally toyed with him pretty hard.
Feeling a twinge of guilt just then, a contemptuous voice flows into my ear.
-Serves you right, acting all arrogant.
-Karma, isn’t it? Knew it’d come to this someday.
Not a single spectator pitied Jegal Cheon-sang’s wretched state.
Instead, they wore gleeful expressions, openly mocking him with loud jeers.
No way he hadn’t heard what I’d caught.
His face twists into something demonic.
The grinding of his teeth rings out especially clearly.
“…Forget the spar or whatever. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll kill you, you damn bastard.”
His aura grows even fiercer, carrying sharp killing intent on its waves.
Jegal Geun-yeong, who’d been blankly watching the match, senses it and shouts urgently.
“Ho-cheon Branch Leader, stop! This is still just a spar…!”
“Shut up! You’re next after I kill this bastard!”
Jegal Geun-yeong freezes as those manic eyes turn his way.
Having silenced Jegal Geun-yeong with a word, Jegal Cheon-sang turns back to me.
And assumes a stance I’d never seen before.
One leg stepped forward, both knees bent, waist hunched as far as possible to lower his upper body to the height of his legs, sword tip aimed at me.
It was such a bizarre stance that I couldn’t help tilting my head.
Unlike me, who had no clue what he was doing, Jegal Geun-yeong seemed to recognize it and his eyes went wide.
“No way…!”
Just as words of shock were about to spill from his gaping mouth, Jegal Cheon-sang charged at me.
In that same lowered stance.
It looked just like a quadruped beast, shorter than a human in height, lunging forward.
“Kuaaaak!”
Well, well, even his shout turned into a beastly roar?
Jegal Cheon-sang barrels toward me as I stare in disbelief.
-Swaeek!
His sword stabs at my thigh amid the sound of slicing air.
I step aside with footwork to evade, but the blade pursues me immediately.
Its speed is pretty fast.
Somehow, a chase ensues.
Jegal Cheon-sang relentlessly lunging in a beast-like low stance, and me retreating while dodging attacks.
I hadn’t expected a Jegal Clan warrior to fight like this, so I was a bit flustered.
I wasn’t even hoping for Subtle Immortal stance or Iron Pipe Brush style.
But as a Jegal Clan warrior, shouldn’t he fight with a bit more dignity?
Grumbling inwardly, I blocked and dodged the endless onslaught.
Even as his strikes kept failing, his sword slashed and stabbed relentlessly like a beast swinging its forepaws.
“Kyak!”
It didn’t reach me, but Jegal Cheon-sang’s swordplay was unexpectedly threatening.
It seemed like wild swings at a glance, but they oddly targeted openings.
“Benefactor…!”
The musician’s scream-like voice rang out.
Had he sensed crisis in my constant retreats?
Not really.
I’d been a bit thrown off at first, but soon found the novel technique intriguing and observed it briefly.
Having tested it briefly, though, it was just fresh—didn’t seem all that useful.
Plus, it had a fatal flaw I couldn’t ignore.
-Kwang!
I stomped down hard.
The energy I’d focused on Jegal Cheon-sang crushes his body.
“Kheuk!”
Unable to resist, he collapses flat on the training ground floor.
Shrugging at his inability to rise under the intense pressure.
From what I’d observed so far, that bizarre sword style disregarded maintaining his body’s center of gravity, relying purely on ceaseless attacks to overwhelm the opponent.
In simple terms, it poured everything into offense.
Honestly, it was hard to call it an excellent technique.
Useless in group fights, and only somewhat effective in one-on-one.
Plus, against someone like me who could control energy to suppress, he’d end up wide open like this.
Wondering what he’d been thinking deploying such a move, it hit me—he probably had no experience fighting energy-manipulating warriors.
“Ah.”
Thinking about it, yeah, that made sense.
In this world, the only warriors who could control energy were me and Namgoong Hyeon so far.
Given most warriors couldn’t even emit inner energy, that freakish sword style might actually be treated as top-tier martial arts…?
“W-what is this? What the hell is this!?”
Amid my stunned realization, a shocked voice struck my ears.
Snapping back to reality, I approached Jegal Cheon-sang sprawled like a frog.
“The match seems decided already. Quietly admit defeat, and I’ll let you go.”
Jegal Cheon-sang, plastered to the training ground floor, twisted his face at my words again.
“Don’t make me laugh! I’m Jegal One-Sword, Jegal Cheon-sang! You think I’d lose to a punk like you?”
It sure looked like he’d lost a hundred times over already.
Me, without a single cut or slash on my uniform, versus Jegal Cheon-sang draped in blood-soaked rags.
Who the victor was, was obvious.
“You damn bastard…! That Jade-Faced Enchantress was babbling about some sorcerer, but you’re the real sorcerer! Release this damn sorcery right now!”
Yet Jegal Cheon-sang wouldn’t admit defeat, even ranting nonsense about me being a sorcerer.
No helping it.
If he wouldn’t concede, I’d just have to win outright.
Conveniently, I had one more thing I wanted to test.
I gripped my sword with both hands and raised it overhead.
I’d already learned his protective aura was vulnerable to second strikes.
I had some guesses about why, but one thing remained unknown.
Namely, its strength.
Jegal Cheon-sang’s protective aura had blocked my first strikes effortlessly so far.
So, could it withstand my strongest single blow?
The mightiest technique usable without sword qi to nullify the aura itself was Heavenly Thunderclap Strike.
A downward chop embodying the essence of the heavy sword.
Could his protective aura perfectly block even that?
I was quite curious about the result.
“If you block even this attack, I’ll concede the win to you.”
“Shut up and release it, you damn bastard…!”
I brought my sword down on Jegal Cheon-sang, who kept cursing to the end.
-Kwaang!
With an explosion, he smashed through the training ground floor and buried beneath it.