Chapter 60: Uninhabited Island Survival Training (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 60: Uninhabited Island Survival Training (7)
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
The man standing at the front suddenly began to clap, the sound creating an unpleasant echo. He scratched his temple and spoke with a sleazy smirk.
“Hey kid, who the hell are you? I might’ve thrown that lightly, but it wasn’t something you should’ve been able to dodge so easily. What, are you some kind of mercenary working undercover?”
I frowned deeply at the sight of his snake-like tongue flickering grotesquely. The man let out a raspy chuckle. Then, he casually tossed a comment toward the leader standing beside him, Ray Shan.
“Boss, this brat is no joke. How can a kid have that kind of expression in a situation like this? He’s an interesting one. Boss, what do you think about actually scouting him?”
“…….”
Ray Shan remained with her arms crossed, offering no response. Instead, she intensified her cold gaze on me. Her eyes narrowed, as if she were measuring my worth.
She was a woman whose appearance stood out even among the crowd of burly men. Though she looked like a noblewoman on the outside, her core was that of a blood-soaked assassin.
Ray Shan.
During the time of the game, she wasn't human. In this world, humans who could manipulate magic through direct contracts with Legion Commanders were called ‘Villains.’
They didn't have much presence in the early to mid-stages of the story, but right before the final act, they were the first to threaten humanity as the vanguards of the Legion Commanders.
I stared back at her, my eyes wide. This was a starkly different state from when I first encountered her while playing Miracle Blessing M.
My skin prickled from the murderous intent she radiated with an expressionless face, but that intent was definitely human. It seemed we were still at a point in time before she fell and became a Villain.
Come to think of it, the first time I met her was around the last semester of Leon’s third year.
As if sensing my gaze, Ray Shan spoke in a sharp, chilling monosyllable. Yet, I felt a sense of dissonance in her elegant eyes.
“…Who do you belong to?”
“…….”
What the hell is she talking about?
It was absurd enough that the Undertakers had suddenly ambushed me, but now she was interrogating me about my affiliation.
The summer heat made my irritation flare, but letting emotions cloud one's mind is a surefire way to make mistakes. In a situation like this, a moment’s excitement could lead to one's death, so I had to regain my composure as quickly as possible.
I suppressed my emotions and began to take quiet, steady breaths. Soon, my heated mindscape cooled rapidly.
I shifted my eyes, scanning the enemies to gauge their strength. There were seven opponents in sight, but my intuition told me two or three more were hiding.
Roughly ten people in total.
Meanwhile, the snake-like man spoke again, wearing a friendly, mocking smile.
“Hey, brat. You should feel honored before you die, eh?! This is practically the first time the Boss has shown interest in a target. Right, Vice-Captain?”
He nudged the man called the Vice-Captain, seeking agreement. The Vice-Captain let out a short sigh and nodded.
“True, his movements aren't ordinary. I thought he’d just be a kid even if he is this year’s top student, but at that level, he could jump straight into this industry. Besides, that guy dodged all of Parik’s attacks while wearing his bag. Well… he didn't dodge them perfectly, though.”
The Vice-Captain sneered at me with a crooked smile. At that moment, the hazy emotions rising like smoke vanished, and something chilling began to race through every corner of my veins.
It was a sensation as if my consciousness and heart were stopping. A numbing feeling, born from an overwhelming sense of lethargy that threatened to consume me, instantly wrapped around my entire body, starting from my fingertips.
This feeling…
A dullness, as if I’d been struck in the back of the head. It was similar to the mysterious sense of exhilaration I’d felt during my duel with Nox.
Coupled with my rising blood temperature, a sense of intoxication swirled within me. I dropped my bag onto the dirt floor and spoke.
“The Undertakers… Seeing as you lot have shown up, the one who commissioned this must be at least at the Elder level.”
The faces of the Undertakers crumpled instantly.
In truth, I had just thrown that out based on the information I’d gathered so far, but seeing their reaction, it seemed I’d hit the mark. Immediately, the Vice-Captain, who had a particularly fierce impression, shouted in shock.
“You little shit, who do you really work for?! How dare you dig into our background—!”
“Enough.”
Ray Shan cut him off before he could finish. He twisted his mouth into a grimace and clicked his tongue, muttering a curse. Ray Shan looked at me and asked coldly.
“It seems you know about us.”
“That you’re just a bunch of human butchers who kill for coin?”
My tone was heavily provocative. A faint dryness seeped into her eyes.
“That crazy bastard. He just said the thing the Boss hates most.”
The expressions of the members, including the Vice-Captain, shifted toward bewilderment. I knew Ray Shan’s personality well.
It was a fact revealed later in the story, but she was originally born as the daughter of a high-ranking noble family. She had been cast out due to the betrayal of her relatives, and out of resentment and hatred toward the nobility, she chose the life of an assassin.
That resentment grew day by day until she eventually sold her soul to a Legion Commander and became a Villain, only to be an ill-fated character subjugated by Leon…
However, I felt not a shred of sympathy for her, considering she had chosen such an anti-human life.
Everyone in the world has a story. Choosing to murder just because your environment was flawed isn't normal to begin with.
If we’re going by that logic, my family was ruined in my previous life because of my father’s debt guarantees. Yet, I didn't stray; I lived an honest life slicing fish. I even rejected the temptations of the underworld that promised me piles of money until the very end.
But now that I think about it, I was a pretty pitiful bastard too, wasn't I…?
Much more so than some assassin over there.
“…….”
Ray Shan glared at me with sharp, cat-like eyes.
I had deliberately spoken those words to break her composure, and judging by her reaction, it seemed to have worked. They were humans, but they were professional killers. Furthermore, I hadn't even drawn my weapon yet, so I had to exploit any opening in the enemy.
I let out a low chuckle and added more.
“What? Does a former noble hate being called a human butcher by a special admission student like me?”
Ray Shan’s pupils trembled violently, and the Vice-Captain charged at me as if having a fit. Blood-stained brass knuckles were fitted onto his fingers.
“You son of a bitch!”
The Vice-Captain lunged with a sharp cry, his face filled with nothing but rage and murderous intent. The other members froze at his sudden outburst.
Now.
I had deliberately provoked Ray Shan for this very moment. This was the chance to change the tide of a one-versus-many battle. As I pulled the sashimi knife from my coat, the Vice-Captain reached me, spewing curses.
“Die—!”
The heavy knuckles aimed for my face, and I quickly flicked my wrist to reveal the blade. In that split second, the brutal fist filled my entire vision.
Slice—
With the short sound of a blade cutting through air, a flash of light glided past the Vice-Captain’s neck. Our positions crossed.
The Vice-Captain’s lips flickered a few times as he fumbled at his neck with his fingers.
“Wh-what?”
A precise, crimson line appeared on his neck, and then his head simply tumbled off.
As it rolled across the ground, the Vice-Captain’s emptying eyes came to a stop, facing his comrades.
“……!”
“What—what is this?!”
“Goddammit, Vice-Captain!”
Belatedly, the members’ screams and shouts erupted.
Unable to comprehend the situation, they stared blankly back and forth between me and what used to be their Vice-Captain.
An indescribable sense of exhilaration swelled in my chest. This was the first time I had directly cut down a person.
“Phew.”
This strangely surging sensation wasn't bad at all. On the contrary, it felt as if pleasure were washing over my body.
I took a long breath and swept my hair back. Only then did a familiar female voice ring in my ears.
[The Blessing of the Sword God is manifesting.]
Seeing me, the Undertakers fell into a panic and drew various weapons, pointing them at me. Ray Shan stood dazed for a moment before immediately drawing two knives from her holsters.
“Kill that brat!”
“Dammit!”
They screamed curses like shrieks. Spittle flew from between their yellowed teeth. I took a step toward them.
++++++++++++++++++++++
《May the Blessing of God be with you.》
++++++++++++++++++++++
The fifty seconds during which I could wield the sashimi knife were already ticking away.
* * *
Crunch—!
The sickening sound of flesh being torn echoed, and another head fell.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
“Sh-shit! What the hell is this guy?!”
The members babbled curses in a state of panic. Even then, the agile blade swept through their bodies at a speed they couldn't react to.
“No, where did he⏤”
Slice— Thud.
The bodies of the sturdy men were severed as helplessly as tofu. Parik shouted, the veins in his neck bulging.
“Hey, you idiots! Get it together! It’s just one kid! Stab him all at once!”
At those words, the members momentarily reorganized their formation and launched a coordinated attack on Kang Geomma. Multiple sharp points lunged toward him.
However, as if he had anticipated it, Kang Geomma used the spring in his knees to lean his torso far back, dodging the attack.
“Insane!”
The coordinated strike heartlessly pierced the empty air. Their hollow gazes followed Kang Geomma’s movements.
Whish.
Maintaining that posture, Kang Geomma shifted his grip on the sashimi knife to a reverse hold and swung his arm.
Squelch—!
A searing heat swept across their arms, and the hands holding their weapons were severed one after another.
“Guaaaagh! Fuuuuuck! It hurts, it hurts!”
“You little rat, just die already!”
One of them swung a sword with his remaining arm.
Kang Geomma exerted his strength, instantly straightening his waist and thrusting the sashimi knife with a twist. The blade that pierced the man's throat came out through the back of his neck.
“Gurgle⏤!”
The member let out a single groan and collapsed sideways as soon as Kang Geomma pulled the knife out. In the moment their eyes were drawn to their fallen comrade—
Swish.
The blood-soaked blade swept through the throats of the remaining members like a wave.
It was a death they couldn't even perceive. Their heads naturally rolled onto the ground.
Phew— Phew— Phew—
Arrows flew from a distance in the background.
Sensing the presence, Kang Geomma tilted his head slightly to let them pass without even looking back.
Immediately, his eyes spotted the archers among the trees. When they met his chilling gaze, their pupils dilated as wide as lanterns.
“Oh, sh—”
Only then did they try to take cover. Simultaneously, a whoosh of air being sliced sounded, and the sashimi knife flew in a straight line, accurately embedding itself into their vital spots one after another.
The three archers twitched convulsively before falling from the trees, their necks snapping upon impact.
The Undertakers were speechless. What on earth was this? They were more than used to the fishy scent of blood, but they had never encountered an opponent like this.
The target they had designated as prey was instead ruthlessly hunting all of them down.
And the opponent was just a student.
They had thought this was an easy job, practically free money, but in less than ten seconds, how many heads had fallen to that gleaming sashimi knife?
The moment the members’ formation scattered under the impact of the shock, Kang Geomma immediately lunged forward.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Before they could even retreat in haste, the cold sensation of steel pressed in.
Thud— Thud-thud-thud.
““““Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!””””
The sound of something being severed in bundles was heard, and the screams that had been echoing like background music died down.
The only members left were Parik and Ray Shan.
“B-Boss!”
Parik called out to Ray Shan desperately, his voice thick with terror. A shrill, wheezing scream leaked through his split tongue.
Ray Shan stood dazed, suppressed by an indescribable pressure.
They wanted me to kill that? No matter how much she thought about it, that wasn't the skill of a human.
Monster, ghost—no matter what modifier was attached to that brat, it wouldn't be enough.
It was artistry. Not just his movements, but the way his blade carved through without resistance was a ghostly skill that made her lose her sense of reality.
Step, step.
Meanwhile, Kang Geomma approached, gripping his sashimi knife. Parik, his shoulders trembling as he gasped for breath, became hysterical.
“D-Don’t come any closer, you son of a bitch! Fuck, you butcher bastard who carves people with a sashimi kni—!”
Crunch!