Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Retribution
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"You son of a bitch, worse than a dog! Where did you disappear to!"
Rishun roared, glaring at the spot where his attacker had been just moments before.
The man had vanished in an instant from the brink of death, as if by some magic.
He was certain the man wasn't even nearby; no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't feel the slightest trace of his energy.
"Cowardly bastard from a vassal state! I'll find you, one way or another, and gut you. Ptooey."
Rishun spat at the empty space and started running.
He had to kill the children who had escaped the research facility to erase all traces.
Soon, he could sense the energy of several dozen people clustered together.
"You insects! Where do you think you're going!"
Rishun charged toward the children at incredible speed, swinging his greatsaber to cut them in half.
Clang-!
"And who are you?"
The one who blocked Rishun's greatsaber was a young-looking man.
"You bastard! What do you think you're doing!"
The man spoke Chinese.
He used the Chongqing dialect, and his pronunciation was so good that if Rishun hadn't been from Chongqing himself, he might have mistaken him for a native.
"Not one of ours, are you? Are you with him?"
The man raised his sword, positioning himself to protect the children.
Judging by his aura, he was less than a quarter as strong as the previous man, yet here he was, striking a pose. It was utterly pathetic.
"Where is my hyung-nim!"
The kid shouted, thrusting his sword forward.
A greenhorn who couldn't even gauge the gap between himself and his opponent.
At best, he was a high C-rank.
The wise choice here wasn't to brandish a sword but to tuck his tail and run.
Not that Rishun planned on letting him go, of course.
"I am in a very foul mood right now. But I am willing to show you great mercy and let you live. All you have to do is tell me where he disappeared to."
Rishun planned to rough the kid up a bit, then send him to his technicians to find out why he'd infiltrated the research facility before letting him go.
He might lose a hand or be blinded for life in the process, but he would live, so it wasn't a lie.
"How would I know something you don't?"
"Then I have no choice. I'll have to cut off your arms and legs and make you watch as I sever the heads of every child here."
Rishun moved with incredible speed and swung his greatsaber.
Slish-!
Crimson blood sprayed into the air. Rishun's eyebrow twitched.
"A mere monster dares!"
Rishun had intended to sever the kid's right arm, but that damned monster had pulled him back, causing the greatsaber to only cut shallowly.
"Aaargh!"
"Getting help from a monster. Tsk, tsk, the men of the vassal state are rotten to the core."
Rishun clicked his tongue as a golem stepped in front of the kid, who was clutching his shoulder.
He immediately attacked the monster.
Crumble-!
Crack-!
Each time Rishun's saber passed, the golem crumbled and regenerated.
One part in particular regenerated faster than the rest. Noticing this, Rishun repeatedly swung his greatsaber at that exact spot.
"Damn it! This is a waste of time."
Rishun kicked at the golem, its chest now wide open.
The sole of his foot struck the golem's faintly glowing core. With the sound of cracking stone, the core shattered, and the golem lost its form and collapsed.
"Yaaah!"
As the golem fell, the kid charged at him, screaming in desperation.
He couldn't even swing his sword properly; he wouldn't be able to lay a single finger on Rishun.
Slice-!
"Kuaaargh!"
"You're a lucky one."
Rishun looked down at the fallen kid in admiration.
This time, he had aimed to cut off his leg, slashing at his thigh, but the kid had slipped on the slope and fallen backward, resulting in another shallow wound.
Thud-!
Squelch.
To make sure he severed the leg properly this time, Rishun kicked the kid in the chin as he tried to get up, knocking him back down, and then pressed his foot firmly onto his abdomen.
"Now, let's start by slicing off a leg. By the time you bleed out, the heads of these beggars will all be rolling on the ground."
"Grrrk…"
Rishun leaned back slightly and raised his sword.
It was a motion he made in anticipation of the blood splatter.
He was already covered in dirt and dust, but it was a long-held habit.
Whoosh-!
Rishun's greatsaber rose almost vertically.
Just as he was about to bring it down to sever the kid's thigh.
Clang-!
Whir-
Thunk-
A rock the size of a baseball flew through the air and knocked the greatsaber from his hand.
Then, a roar filled with fury echoed.
"RISHUUUUUN!"
A man was charging toward him at an incredible speed.
It was Lee Do-jae.
***
Shwooo-!
CRASH-!
Do-jae sprinted at full speed and brought his fist down on Rishun.
The black Golem Armor looked truly demonic, and a large crater formed where Do-jae had struck.
"Rishun! You bastard!"
Do-jae slowly walked out of the smoking crater, unleashing his overflowing rage.
"What's this? I thought you ran away."
Rishun stood outside the crater, looking down at Do-jae with a mocking voice.
Ignoring him, Do-jae slowly walked up the side of the crater.
Thud- thud-.
"I almost forgot. Forgot that you're a bastard who deserves to be torn to shreds. Just you wait!"
"What are you talking about?"
Do-jae approached the fallen Young-jin and knelt beside him.
"Young-jin, I'm sorry."
"Hyung… nim…"
Young-jin managed a faint smile when he saw Do-jae.
Do-jae felt both annoyed and sorry for him, smiling despite having lost enough blood to turn pale.
Swoosh-
Do-jae took some mashed Surta leaves from his subspace.
Rip-
He tore Young-jin's tattered clothes, placed the Surta leaves on the gash, and tied the cloth tightly around it to apply pressure.
"Oww…"
"It'll heal quickly."
Do-jae knew from personal experience that Surta leaves had an excellent hemostatic effect.
It wouldn't restore his stamina, but at the very least, the bleeding would stop soon, and the wound would begin to close.
"What do you two think you're doing?"
With a look of disbelief, Rishun lifted his saber and charged at Do-jae and Young-jin.
But Do-jae didn't even glance at him, preoccupied with bandaging Young-jin's leg.
"Hyung-nim…! That bastard is…"
"It's fine."
CRACK-!
A cloud of dust erupted behind Do-jae as Rishun was slammed into a rock.
"You… you… you bastards!"
Blood trickled down Rishun's forehead, and one side of his suit was covered in white dust from the shattered rock.
Do-jae's golem had appeared and shoved Rishun aside as he charged.
"Young-jin, can you wait just a little longer?"
"No, I think I'm gonna die… I almost had my arm and leg cut off."
"Sounds like you're fine. I'll be done in a minute."
Do-jae reformed the headpiece of the Golem Armor he had taken off.
In stark contrast to its black hue, the golem's eyes shone even brighter.
Thud.
"RISHUUUUUN!"
Thud.
"When I think about what you've done, I want to kill you right this instant! But that would be too easy a death, wouldn't it?"
Do-jae slowly approached Rishun, who was wiping blood from his face.
The Black Scale in his hand seemed to resonate with Do-jae's emotions, emitting an even sharper edge.
"A matched pair of you! Why are you making such a fuss just because I killed a few beggars? If anything, it's a cleanup that helps the Party and the nation!"
Rishun also aimed his saber at Do-jae and advanced.
"Wrong. You should have gotten on your knees and begged for forgiveness. I might have left you with one leg then."
Do-jae infused the Black Scale with mana.
Rishun did the same, wrapping his saber in his own energy.
"Foolish bastard! Do you really think that pathetic amount of power can even reach me!"
Rishun swung his saber, which was brimming with mana.
It was the same technique that had wounded Do-jae's chest.
BOOM-!
But its previous destructive power was rendered meaningless as it met Do-jae's palm and exploded in mid-air.
Do-jae continued to build up mana in the Black Scale, and a look of bewilderment began to creep into Rishun's eyes.
"How… how can you have so much power…"
Having poured an immense amount of mana into the Black Scale, enough to make it tremble violently, Do-jae swung the sword toward Rishun.
Rishun desperately tried to flee, but he hadn't taken more than a few steps before Do-jae's mass of mana struck him in the back.
SPLAT-!
The massive projectile of mana hit him squarely, sending him flying through the air before he crashed pathetically to the ground.
"Keoheok!"
The impact caused Rishun to vomit a large amount of blood.
Do-jae walked toward the trembling Rishun.
"Stay away! Stay away from me!"
Rishun scrambled away on all fours, his voice shaking, then dashed toward the group of children.
He grabbed a child by the neck and held them up toward Do-jae.
"Come any closer, and I'll snap this one's neck!"
"Playing the coward until the very end."
Do-jae stopped in his tracks.
Instead, he flicked his finger.
In an instant, Golem Armor formed over the child's body, and before Rishun could even tighten his grip, the child was pulled over to Do-jae.
"Go over there."
Do-jae pointed toward where his golem stood.
The child ran, sobbing, while Rishun tried to snatch another.
Shhhk-
Thunk-!
Before Rishun could make a move, Do-jae threw his sword, embedding the Black Scale in his shoulder. As Rishun staggered from the impact, Do-jae rushed forward.
Thwack-!
He kicked Rishun, who was trying to pull out the sword, to the ground.
Then he pressed his foot firmly onto his chest.
As his ribs broke, Rishun struggled to escape.
But stone tendrils shot out from Do-jae's foot, merging with the ground and trapping him completely.
"You will spend the rest of your life atoning for your sins."
Do-jae used the Black Scale to cut off one of Rishun's arms.
"Kuaaaargh!"
The incredibly sharp Black Scale made a clean cut, and blood spurted out like a fountain.
Sizzle-!
"Kwahhhhaaaak!"
Not wanting him to die from blood loss, Do-jae used fire magic to cauterize the stump of the severed arm.
It was too weak to be considered an attack spell, but it was more than enough to burn the skin.
Slice-!
This time, he cut off the other arm.
But no scream was heard.
Although his golems blocked the view, Do-jae figured Rishun's screams wouldn't be good for the children to hear, so he had gagged him.
"Mmph, mmph!"
Do-jae then severed Rishun's two legs and cauterized the wounds to stop the bleeding.
As the last leg was cut off, Rishun lost consciousness and fainted.
"Bring him."
Do-jae ordered the golem to fetch Rishun, then walked over to Young-jin.
"Sorry I was late. If I had gotten here sooner, you wouldn't have been hurt."
"I know, right? What a mess to get into after suddenly flying all the way to China."
"Why didn't you run?"
"Hmm… why didn't I? To be honest, I didn't think I could get away even if I tried, and for some reason, I felt like I had to protect these kids…"
Young-jin looked at the frightened children.
Do-jae ruffled the admirable Young-jin's hair, then slung his good arm over his shoulder and helped him up.
"Let's go back. If you don't get that treated properly, it'll leave a nasty scar."
"Okay. But hyung-nim, can I kick that bastard just once?"
Young-jin pointed at Rishun being dragged over by the golem.
Do-jae gave Young-jin a weary look, then smiled and said.
"Be my guest."