The Price of a Life
“What…!”
By the time I regained my senses, the man in black was already surrounded by a multitude of escort warriors and guards. ‘Damn it, I chased him because I was so pissed off by the way he kept glancing at me with that mocking look, but…’ He was completely cornered. To think that I, of all people, would fall for the provocation of a righteous sect brat!
I struggled to break through the encirclement, but every attempt only resulted in more stab wounds on my body. If I fought like a cornered beast, I might be able to take a few of them with me to the afterlife, but… it was a painful, fatal error that made my death a certainty. But there was no helping it. What’s done is done; accepting death is a virtue of an assassin. Since it had come to this, I would face it like a man.
“Hey, kid over there!”
I shouted to get his attention, but there was no reaction.
“Hey, don’t pretend you don’t hear me. You pretty-boy looking bastard!”
I pointed my finger more accurately to call out the guy who had lured me here. The bastard answered with a blunt, unpleasant tone. How insolent! An adult is speaking to you, you little brat…
“I challenge you to a Life-and-Death Duel.”
I was a dead man anyway, wasn’t I? If so, I wanted to at least kill him or inflict massive damage before I went out. Thanks to the poison coated on my blade, if I could just land a clean hit, taking his life would be a breeze. Or, at the very least, I could take an arm…
I took off my mask and spoke with dignity. “I am Goryu of the Black Moon Sect.”
“Th-the Black Moon Sect?”
“Don’t tell me, that Black Moon Sect?”
“No way, why would someone from the Black Moon Sect be here…”
I could hear the murmurs of the idiots around me. ‘Heh heh heh… pathetic fools, trembling just at the mention of our sect’s name…’ The Black Moon Sect, the greatest group of assassins in the Central Plains! While some idiots refused to acknowledge that fact, it was an undeniable truth that no other assassin group could match the number of contracts our sect had fulfilled.
“You must have some shred of martial honor, right? Right now, let’s—”
“Nah, I’m good. I refuse.”
I was dumbfounded by the unexpected answer. He was refusing a life-and-death duel? Aren’t these righteous sect types obsessed with duels and life-and-death matches? What the hell is this…
“What! Do you have no martial honor? I’m prepared to die here—!”
“Honor? To a guy who wears a mask and slaughters village residents? Honor?”
Because what the brat said was true, I had no retort. But I had come here on a contract, so I felt no shame. To lure this brat out, I had to do this.
“Fine. If you’ll fight me in a life-and-death duel, I’ll give you this!”
I was startled when I saw the object the man in black pulled from his robes. A golden ornament… ‘Could it be an Immortal’s Dharma Treasure!’ The unique pattern… it was definitely a fragment of a Dharma Treasure. It was a type of extra-corporeal object that the protagonist starts searching for in the middle of the novel, divided into seven pieces in total. Even right before the final battle with the Heavenly Demon Emperor, the last two pieces remained unfound. It was clearly a plot device to prevent the protagonist from easily winning the final battle by completing the artifact, which was the natural enemy of demonic arts.
Well, if they were going to set it up like that, they shouldn’t have included it in the first place. Regardless, to think a nobody like this had a fragment… Since the man in black was clearly the owner of the treasure, defeating him and seizing it seemed like the right move.
“Heh heh… the hypocrisy of the righteous sect is truly disgusting… I saw that look in your eyes, turning greedy at the sight of gold.”
The man in black didn’t seem to know how valuable the item he was holding really was. Now that he mentioned it, it did look like gold. Opportunities to obtain fragments this easily would be rare in the future; I had to grab it while I could.
“Fine. I accept your life-and-death duel.”
Aside from sparring with Sohye, this was my first time facing a martial artist of a similar level.
“Young Master, you mustn’t. Why fall for the words of a guy like that?” The escort warriors and guards around me tried to stop me, looking tense. Looking around, it seemed all the bandits in the village had been subdued.
“That guy, a life-and-death duel with an assassin of the Black Moon Sect… is he that confident in his skills?”
“He’s still just a kid… shouldn’t we stop him? It’s too reckless!”
“Tsk tsk… blinded by gold, I suppose. Your life is what matters most.”
I heard their clicking tongues and jealous whispers, but I ignored them. I faced the man in black in the center of the circle formed by the escorts.
“Heh heh… I never dreamed you’d actually accept. Is the gold that tempting? You, like all the others—”
Strike first, win first! Ignoring the man in black’s rambling, I unleashed a strike of the Vermilion Bird Chain Strike.
A storm of continuous, balanced strikes that overwhelms the opponent's defenses.
“Gah! You cowardly…”
Isn’t it the assassin’s fault for flapping his gums during a life-and-death duel? Goryu, whose stance was shattered by my first heavy strike, tried to retreat in a panic, but there was no way I was going to let him go. Goryu, with his stance broken, couldn’t block the second and third rapid strikes of the Vermilion Bird Chain Strike.
“Argh! You wet-behind-the-ears brat, how dare you—!”
Goryu, who had suffered a deep wound to his thigh from my rapid sword, began to roar in frustration, perhaps humiliated by being pushed back by someone he had looked down upon. He had fought the escorts, so his stamina was drained, but he was weaker than I expected. While physical condition and stamina were crucial in a life-and-death duel, I didn’t think I would lose even if he were in peak condition. And in a situation where his stamina and concentration were scattered, it went without saying.
Goryu was being unilaterally beaten by me. He was blocking well, but stab wounds were piling up on his body.
Contrary to the escorts’ expectations, the situation was surprisingly favorable for Gihu…
“Wh-who on earth is that young master?” I could hear the murmurs of the people around me.
“You live in the lower village and don’t even know that? He’s the youngest son of the Sa-geom Sect!”
“…If he’s the youngest son of the Sa-geom Sect, I heard rumors that he was a fool who smeared the sect’s name with his low-level martial arts. Is that the guy?”
“I’m not sure about that myself.”
Confused whispers and guesses were spreading here and there.
“Isn’t he just a drifter, not an assassin of the Black Moon Sect?”
“Yeah, there’s no way a notorious Black Moon Sect assassin would be beaten so helplessly. It must be an impostor.”
“No, you idiots, don’t you see the Black Moon Sword Art? Look at how many people have been killed by it… that form is the most basic of basics.”
The murmurs of the crowd grew louder.
“No way, that would mean the youngest son has martial arts that can overwhelm a Black Moon Sect assassin… he was a third-class martial artist just a while ago, how is that possible?”
“I don’t know about that either.”
Leaving the people’s chatter behind, I calmly assessed the situation. What was he counting on when he suggested a life-and-death duel? Was he attacking even though he knew he couldn’t win? Could it be?
As soon as I had that thought, I locked eyes with Goryu.
“Heh… kid, how do you feel right now? How does it feel to be praised by others?”
I instinctively dodged, but seeing Goryu’s eyes, prepared for death, I realized he had suggested the duel to give me one last big middle finger. Mutual destruction! He had already taken dozens of hits from my Vermilion Bird Chain Strike, so the timing he was aiming for was the moment I transitioned from heavy sword to rapid sword!
‘Holy shit!’
I leaped back to create distance, but the opening created by shifting my form was unavoidable.
“You let your guard down, boy!”
As the man in black lunged sharply, aiming for the flaw in my martial arts, it was as if Goryu had poured all the innate energy in his body into a single strike. The target of that fierce, menacing strike was none other than my throat! But the moment I landed, I slammed one leg into the ground, twisted my body in the opposite direction, and thrust my sword.
I was reenacting a method used by a protagonist in another martial arts novel.
“W-what!!”
Shhhk—! Puk—!
“Gah… this, this is impossible.”
‘Wow, it actually worked.’
My sword tip was buried precisely in Goryu’s chest, while Goryu’s blade tip had failed to pierce my throat, only grazing Gihu’s arm. I had narrowly avoided Goryu’s strike by a paper-thin margin and countered, successfully completing a stable exchange of blows. It was truly a dangerous moment. If I had made a mistake, I would have definitely been stabbed in the throat. To think that reading various martial arts novels would help me here…
I didn’t miss the moment, and I shoved my sword into the throat of Goryu, who was flustered by the situation.
“Ooooooh!!!!!!”
“Whoa, whoa!”
“That’s truly amazing! To dodge like that in that moment!”
Perhaps because I had dramatically reversed a dangerous situation, there was awe in the eyes of the escorts and warriors looking at me. This is embarrassing…
After taking down Goryu and recovering the fragment of the Dharma Treasure, I saw that the escorts had already captured some of the bandits who had raided the village. I needed to get information quickly.
“No time. Answer what I ask from now on. If I think you’re lying, I’ll hit you. Even if I don’t like your answer, I’ll hit you.”
“H-huh? Huh? What is that…!”
BAM—!
“Kuek… grrr…”
“H-hick!”
“Is he really a righteous sect person?”
The teeth of the bandit who had talked back flew into the sky. Wow, they fly pretty far, don’t they?
“Do I look like I’m joking? I said I have no time.”
I hit first and ask questions later.
* * *
Violence really does solve everything.
“Is that true?”
The bandit nodded his bruised face and bowed repeatedly. ‘Could it be that the Heavenly Demon is already…?’