The Lightning of Hatred and the Price of Vengeance
Just as the opposing forces began to entwine together, the crude dantian finally gave up and let out a scream of agony. Yet alongside the thick pain, what rose in his hand was unmistakably a bolt of lightning. A pure blue thunderclap, a flash of explosive power that devoured deep breaths and drove a fist forward.
The fist, swung like lightning itself, slammed mercilessly into the hunter’s jaw with a sharp crack. Whirr—CRASH! Only after cleaving through the empty air did the thunder finally rumble out. What had taken root in his palm was no crude magic at all. It was the mark of the Hwangbo. The pinnacle of explosive, lightning-like destructive force. Byeokryeok Shingwon had at last struck here.
“Kuuu…!!”
“Uncle!!”
But the price of swinging a bolt of lightning was no light matter. The searing agony of his right arm made one knee buckle. When he inspected his arm himself, the damage was far worse. What the lightning had swept through remained nothing but blackened charcoal. It was clear now.
Goblin bodies were weak. If martial talent was absolute, the body simply refused to follow. ‘Still, I’ve been training hard and leveling up my stats these past months… but the road ahead is long and treacherous.’
I exhaled a long breath and stood up.
That was when Lina, who had been gently stroking my charred arm with a pained expression, began to chant.
“World Tree Father, please bless us.”
“…?!”
A drop of clear water from her small, soft hand fell onto my ruined arm. The pain vanished as if washed away.
The sudden change left me bewildered. I moved my arm in every possible direction. First, it wasn’t an illusion. The sensation was real, and even my internal energy flowed smoothly once more. In other words, she had healed my wounds in the blink of an eye.
“How did you do that?”
“What?”
“I mean, this arm.”
“Arm? Wow! All the wounds are completely healed!”
“?!”
…What was this? Had she really been pretending not to know all along? But there was no trace of deception on her face. She simply smiled innocently, delighted that the wounds had vanished.
It could have been acting, of course… but if not, then Lina was hiding something. Still, there were tasks to be done right now.
“Cough, cough.”
“You’re quite alive after all.”
“……What do you want?”
The hunter’s face was pitch-black from the Byeokryeok Shingwon. He continued spitting out blood mixed with thick, red liquid. Of course, pity was nowhere to be found. After all, the one who had destroyed his homeland and turned its people into slaves was him.
So I steeled my resolve and pulled out the dagger I had stolen from the hunter earlier. I drove it straight into his thigh.
“KUAHAAAAAK!!”
“What happened to all the elves who were here?”
“All of them… were captured as slaves.”
“If that’s true, there’s no reason to keep you alive, is there?”
“W-wait! There’s still a chance!”
The moment I raised the dagger again, the hunter spoke in desperation.
Did he really want to live after doing something like that? It was absurd, but I nodded roughly anyway. In truth, I wanted information more than anything. He probably didn’t know much, but compared to a blank slate like me, he had to know something.
“What do you mean?”
“Everything I know, I’ll tell you. In exchange, you must make one promise.”
“You’ll spare me if I tell you everything I know?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I agree.”
“You’re not lying, are you?”
“I never break a promise I make to another person.”
I handed the dagger back with a displeased look, and he nodded in relief before speaking.
Thanks to that, I could finally ask all the questions I had been holding inside. Of course, I asked them in a way that didn’t give away how much I already knew.
As expected, he didn’t know much, but I at least learned the basic structure of this world.
“That’s all I know.”
“In other words, most men are dead, and the women are all locked up in a fortress nearby?”
“……Yes.”
“Grandpa…!!”
The tears I had been barely holding back suddenly overflowed again. Lina could no longer contain herself and hugged me tightly.
For a girl who had lost her home overnight, there were only two things I could do. First, hold her with all my strength. The second was revenge.
I turned her face away and drew my sword from my waist.
“This… this isn’t part of the promise!”
“Promise?”
“Yes! I said I would never break a promise to a person…!!”
“Oh, right. That’s true. But you know…”
Even after doing something like this, you’re still a human?
◇ [First kill: Slave Hunter] [Vagabond Skill Level Increased] [Karma Decreased for eliminating the ‘Evil One’] [Changgung Daeyeon Shingong Achieved 3rd Star] [Sumi Cheonwang Shingong Achieved 1st Star]
Sumi Cheonwang Shingong. One of the Hwangbo Clan’s martial arts manuals, renowned for its absolute, unbreakable physical sturdiness. In other words, a body had to be trained to the level of a Hwangbo warrior just to use Byeokryeok Shingwon without immediate destruction. The Hwangbo Clan was known in every murim world as the strongest in raw physical ability.
‘Swining a Hwangbo martial art like this at will. Honestly, it’s a miracle I haven’t gone mad from juwhapima.’
If I hadn’t possessed the Cheonmujiche that allowed perfect harmony and replication of all martial arts, I would have fallen into madness long ago. Without the Cheonmujiche, I wouldn’t have been able to use any martial arts in the first place.
I finished my last breath of inner energy circulation.
The inner cultivation started under the cover of night only ended after bright dawn finally arrived.
“Huu.”
I raised my internal energy. Previously, even simply circulating qi through my body had been exhausting. Now it was effortless. And that wasn’t all.
I immediately drew my sword. Blue qi began to rise from the blade. It wasn’t sword qi, but I could finally coat it with internal energy.
“So this is how I finally reach First-Class?”
“……Uncle, are you awake?”
“Yes. You woke up earlier than expected.”
“Hehe, this kind of thing is the least I can do.”
Lina held up the fish she had caught with a weak smile.
I thought we were going somewhere early in the morning, but it turned out she was fishing. Thanks to that, breakfast was easy—grilled fish.
After eating, I disposed of the corpses. Lina’s expression wasn’t bright, but there was nothing I could do about it. To suppress my instincts, I had to do this.
◇ [Showed mercy to an ex-enemy and recovered the corpse] [Karma Decreased]
I felt the surging instinct slowly subside. This damn instinct would flare up like a ghost if I let my guard down even for a moment. But thanks to steadily lowering my karma, I could at least stay somewhat sane while training.
Meanwhile, Lina, who had been quietly helping me dispose of the enemies’ corpses, suddenly spoke with determination.
“Why do you go to so much trouble to bury these people yourself?”
Because karma decreases. I swallowed the words that rose to my throat.
I couldn’t say it straight out. I took a moment to catch my breath and came up with some plausible reason on the spot. After all, I had read countless murim novels. Thanks to that, I produced a decent answer without too much trouble.
I cleared my throat and said, “The debt of kindness is repaid with kindness, and the debt of enmity is repaid with blood. In the end, all favors return to the soil.”
“……So you’re burying this burning hatred and rage along with the enemy’s corpse?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
It sounded more like a dream interpretation than a dream, but as long as I had convinced myself, it was fine.
I finished by covering it with dirt. Although it was a place that had once been forest, it felt wrong to bury them there, so I dug a grave a short distance away. It wasn’t a special spot… but they would understand.
I shook the dirt off my body and spoke.
“This should be enough. I think we can rescue them.”
“Rescue? You mean…”
“That’s right. I plan to save the elves who were captured.”
Thanks to the hunter’s interrogation, I learned far more than I expected. In short… this world had no dreams or hope. Humans were absolute predators. Here, other races were nothing but slaves or trophies. He said the reward for killing other races was enormous.
So we were basically participating in slave hunting…
‘Even I can’t take on the entire Unified Empire alone.’
This wasn’t something I could just ignore. If not a single elf remained, what would happen afterward? Of course I would be hunted. So I had to strike at the Empire first. Saving the elves captured this time was the reason.
To find companions to fight the Empire together.