Chapter 62
Translator: uly
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: The Heaven-Slaying Star of Chilgok County - 5
Strike First, Strike Hard.
In the world of the underworld, this is a fundamental principle of victory.
Most back-alley gangs are not composed of masters from the Nine Schools and Six Families, but are merely gatherings of second or third-rate martial artists, so the overall skill level of their members is low.
When fights break out between such gangs, the easiest way to win is to draw your blade first and incapacitate the opponent in one blow, or to launch a surprise attack from behind at an unexpected moment.
Of course, there are certainly opponents who seem unbeatable even if you strike first. In that case, there's no choice but to prostrate yourself as pitifully as possible and beg for mercy instead of drawing your blade first.
But what if, even after groveling pitifully, it seems like the master will still draw their blade?
"Charge!"
You return to the principle of striking first.
At the single command of the Blue Snake Gang's leader, the gang's martial artists, who had been tightening their encirclement around the Heaven-Slaying Star from all sides, all began to charge at once.
Just one stab would do.
She might look strong, but she's just a woman, isn't she? If even one of the nearly thirty blades managed to pierce her body, the rest would be a foregone conclusion. The charging gang martial artists all thought the same thing.
The dozens of blade edges swarming around the Heaven-Slaying Star looked like petals of steel. Blade leaves ready to sever the pistil that was the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Success.
Seeing the blades thrusting in from all directions, the gangsters anticipated success. But the blades disappeared before touching her body.
"Where'd she go?"
"Up?"
"She's not there!"
They had definitely been staring at one person while thrusting their blades, but she vanished. If she had jumped, she should be in the air, but even when a few looked up, they couldn't see her.
"Aargh!"
"Below! Damn it!"
One warrior looked down at the ground. He saw her, who had been momentarily obscured from view by the blades.
She was lying low, skimming the ground, supporting her body on one ankle to dodge the blades.
Pivoting on that one ankle like the hand of a clock, she began harvesting ankles as promised.
"Gah!"
"Aaaargh!"
"My ankle!"
The Blue Snake Gang warriors, startled, stepped back to avoid having their ankles severed, but already more than half were clutching their ankles and rolling on the ground.
A single attack, meant to be a preemptive strike, had resulted in far too great a sacrifice.
"Formation! Deploy the formation!"
One of the Blue Snake Gang's officers shouted.
Formation. A battle tactic created for a weak majority to defeat a strong minority.
A few of the more skilled martial artists in the Blue Snake Gang gathered in one place at those words and began to form a formation.
'With this, we can win.'
Of course, it wasn't a formation as powerful and mystical as those of renowned orthodox sects.
A formation learned by treating a Demonic Cult master to expensive drinks and women in a tavern.
How much they had struggled to coordinate their sword swings with these back-alley lives who didn't even know the meaning of cooperation.
But with this formation, they had even killed a martial artist who, not knowing they were skilled, tried to extort money from them, leading to a fight.
"O, over there!"
"D-don't be scared!"
"Damn it, don't break formation! As usual! Line up as usual!"
The Blue Snake Gang martial artists were frantic, but they still managed to deploy a formation with proper structure.
The Blue Snake Gang martial artists in formation thrust their blades at her perfectly, from above and below, from the right and left, without interfering with each other's routines.
If properly deployed, there was no martial artist in Chilgok County who could stand against this formation. The Blue Snake Gang officers hoped so.
"Gah!"
"My foot! My foot!"
However, their hopes were betrayed meaninglessly.
It took less than a single breath for the ankles of the Blue Snake Gang martial artists in formation to be harvested by the Heaven-Slaying Star's attack.
'We're completely fucked. Damn it.'
The Blue Snake Gang leader thought, looking at his subordinates rolling on the ground.
What kind of lightning bolt from a clear sky is this in a shantytown? Why is a shantytown a shantytown? It's a place where people with no one to rely on and who worry about their next meal gather.
The people here have no one to complain to when extorted, no one to ask for help. A shantytown is a place where you can extort money safely, albeit annoyingly, like picking up fallen grains of rice.
Why would a master like that appear in such a place?
"Run away!"
"We can't handle her!"
"We can't win! Scatter!"
'Pathetic bastards.'
The Blue Snake Gang leader sneered, looking at his subordinates who were only now realizing and trying to flee.
The opponent is no ordinary master. She is a master of unfathomable skill, whose power can't even be gauged.
When blades clash between gangsters, fingers or arms tend to fly off even unintentionally. Yet, this master is only severing the exact body parts I mentioned.
It means she is a master that a gang like the Blue Snake Gang, made up of local thugs or third-rate martial artists, cannot possibly oppose. And you think you can run from such a master?
"Agh!"
"Ugh!"
As expected. The subordinates who tried to flee immediately had their ankles severed and were thrown back to their original spots.
"B-boss, shouldn't we run too?"
"Let's run while those bastards are dying!"
A few subordinates who had been with the gang since its beginning gathered near the leader.
"The moment we turn our backs, we're dead, bastards."
In truth, the Blue Snake Gang leader had realized from the moment this woman appeared. The only way to leave this place was either to have her corpse removed, or to have his own corpse removed.
"Then what do we do!"
"Damn it. I thought I was finally living like a human."
"Shut up. Hey. You have lime powder, right?"
The Blue Snake Gang leader asked a subordinate if he possessed the secret weapon to break through this crisis.
"I do, but I don't think it'll work on a master."
"Aren't masters human too? I'll go first, then everyone charge together. When the lime powder explodes in front of her eyes, she'll close them. We target that moment. That's our only path to survival."
If a large amount of lime powder gets in your eyes, you can lose your sight. He hadn't used it because there were many other Blue Snake Gang martial artists around, but now was the time to use the secret weapon.
"Damn it. That bitch is looking at us!"
At a subordinate's remark, the leader looked at the Heaven-Slaying Star.
She was looking toward the still-standing leader while severing the ankles of the subordinates crawling around her.
'Damn it. This doesn't look good.'
He felt like he might wet himself. Just making eye contact made his legs feel weak.
If she gets close, we die.
Merely from the Heaven-Slaying Star's gaze, all the standing Blue Snake Gang martial artists instinctively took a step back.
Just moments ago, they were the predators of the shantytown, but now they felt like herbivores standing before a tiger.
The Heaven-Slaying Star slowly approached them, a blade in one hand.
"B-boss, we trust only the Blue Snake Blade."
"Just do your job well."
The Blue Snake Gang leader deliberately spoke with feigned composure in front of his subordinates.
Right. Don't be scared. This isn't the first time facing a life-or-death crisis. Each time, this Blue Snake Blade had resolved it. The leader gripped his Blue Snake Blade and prepared to face the Heaven-Slaying Star.
"Let's go!"
The leader let out a shout and stepped forward to lead the charge. Taking that as a signal, the remaining subordinates also charged fiercely to overwhelm the Heaven-Slaying Star simultaneously.
But that was the leader's deception.
As his subordinates charged, the leader stopped.
"You bastard!"
The subordinates realized the leader had used them as sacrificial lambs, but they were already too close to the Heaven-Slaying Star.
"Ugh!"
"Agh!"
"Damn bitch! Take this!"
One of the subordinates, even as his ankle was being severed, threw the reserved lime powder in front of her eyes. Whether she was caught off guard by the unexpected dirty trick, she momentarily took a step back.
'This is the chance!'
From a third-rate martial artist to a second-rate one. From a second-rate martial artist to the leader of a gang dominating Chilgok County.
All of that was thanks to the Blue Snake Gang leader's secret move, which now aimed for the Heaven-Slaying Star's neck. So lime powder works even on masters. He would survive this time too.
But that was his misconception.
The Heaven-Slaying Star wasn't flustered. She mechanically stepped back, twisted her body to create a vortex like a dragon whirlwind, sweeping away the lime powder. Then, using that rotational force, she swung her blade.
"Huh?"
Why was he lying on the ground? The leader was bewildered by his lowered field of vision. He hurriedly tried to grab his Blue Snake Blade and get up.
He couldn't feel the Blue Snake Blade. Startled, the leader desperately turned his head, stuck to the ground, to find his fallen beloved weapon.
The leader found his beloved weapon, severed in two, three steps away.
It was a blade forged with expensive iron from a good smithy. A blade that hadn't faltered even after over ten years of use, now cut in two.
"Kehahaha."
A hollow laugh escaped the leader's mouth.
His Blue Snake Blade was severed, and both his ankles were cut off in a single move he couldn't even perceive as she swung her sword. Was that even possible?
The leader felt more absurd than pained. Just how much of a master was she?
A mantis trying to stop a chariot.
He thought he was a predator like a mantis preying on weak insects, but that master was an existence that could view the entire Blue Snake Gang as mere insects.
"Damn it. I wanted to live long enough to shit on the floor. Guess I'll be seeing mom soon."
The leader remembered his mother, who had tearfully warned him that if he lived doing bad things, he wouldn't live out his natural lifespan. He had wanted to take over a tavern in Chilgok County and tell his mother she was wrong.
His mother suffered her whole life and passed away, and now he was about to prove his mother right.
The sound of footsteps approaching his ear.
The Blue Snake Gang leader closed his eyes to accept the fate that was now coming.