Chapter 41
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Little Sword Demon
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To raise the point of your sword against an opponent is to harbor killing intent, to aim for their death.
A place where you must kill the other to avoid being killed yourself.
At the same time, for those at my back.
For those who have placed their trust in me not to die.
A place where even a shred of mercy must be discarded.
A place where you cannot bat an eye at cries for mercy. Its name is none other than...
The battlefield.
Having arrived at this brutally crude battlefield, I watched the men clashing swords and snarling at each other.
A broadsword gripped in a thick fist, an axe made of ash wood, a chipped saber, and even a misshapen glaive.
A festival of men whose crude weapons somehow looked all the more threatening.
This was the Green Forest.
Of the three main strongholds of the Green Forest, this was Mount Sandong, known to be the most active.
Men who flaunted their bodies as if they were weapons, save for their vitals precariously covered by tiger pelts.
Shing!
The other group, raising their sword points to confront the bandits and create friction, were clearly members of the Namgung family, bearing a familiar insignia on their chests.
Die!
Hraaargh!
Wipe them out!
Let's kill all these sword-wielding dandies and have a festival today!
There, on the treacherous mountain slope where it was hard to even keep one's balance.
All manner of spears and blades flew wildly, piercing lungs and severing limbs.
Grotesque shouts and screams erupted as men struggled to survive.
Gang Umun and Donghwi, seeing such a sight for the first time, were pale with fright.
The two young men clenched their teeth, trying to loosen their stiff necks and force their feet to move.
And the young men could only watch.
A boy who, unable to hold back, had charged out from the very entrance of Mount Sandong, swinging his sword with fiery intensity.
With every unrestrained swing, he delivered a merciless blade to the three or four bandits who approached, scoffing that it was no place for a mere greenhorn, and they met their end.
Perhaps that was why.
Having fought with a raised sword for days on end from the moment he arrived, with no time for adaptation, even the bandits now regarded him with wary eyes.
As a result, the boy
came to be called the Little Sword Demon.
And also the Little Yaksha.
Every name given to him was that of a ghost or demon.
It was the kind of predictable name you'd expect from bandits, a testament to how crude they were.
Why is this place so big and wide? No matter how many I kill, more just keep showing up.
The hellscape of my past life was unintentionally drawn in my mind, for the future ahead seemed bleak.
At my complaint.
Did you think it would be easy? This is one of the Green Forest's strongholds. Across the entire martial world, the Green Forest is the largest group by headcount, a den of insects.
Just as my uncle said, there were times I'd just stare blankly at the number of bandits pouring out without a day's rest. Mount Sandong was vast, and being one of the Green Forest's strongholds, the number of bandits was staggering.
Because of that.
Hoo, to think I'd decide to ask for help because of sheer numbers.
I gathered the strength of the Namgung in the Shandong branch and the forces deployed on the front line.
But.
This is strange.
There weren't many Namgung family members deployed on the front line. All told, only about one hundred and fifty.
With such a small number, holding back the tide of Green Forest members pouring from Mount Sandong was a distant hope.
Who on earth was managing this?
As I was thinking this, a sharp voice pierced through me.
Strange? It's always been this way. The main family has always! treated the lives of us in the branch family as insignificant.
The eyes staring at me held not a shred of goodwill. The man's name was Namgung Han.
Namgung Han was the commander-in-chief of the front line against the Green Forest. And this man showed great favor not to me, but to my uncle, An Baek.
Before he left the martial world and came to the Namgung family,
We were only able to breathe because of the front line the Sword Saint established here.
They said An Baek, the Iron-Blood Sword Saint, had been active on this front.
No wonder he knew so much about the Green Forest.
In any case, thanks to that, I could roughly understand Namgung Han's situation.
Requests for support to the main family went unanswered.
With meager support compared to the responsibility etched under the Namgung name, the hearts of Namgung Han and the others on this front had grown barren.
There are many problems, Uncle.
You've sensed it.
Unless they're hiding something
More than that no. It's not yet time. They may not be saying much because they know you're the Great Young Lord, but they're on edge.
Just as my uncle said, the Namgung members in Shandong were watching our party with wary eyes.
If we slowly talk things out
No.
I shook my head.
Rather than putting in the effort to persuade and compromise with them.
We just need to show them what we're made of, without worrying about it.
But, Great Young Lord, it feels like we're coexisting with an internal enemy.
I nodded at Gang Umun's words.
They might be hostile simply because we're from the main family, but it's also possible they're reacting this way because we haven't proven ourselves yet.
It was, in a word, hazing. The same kind of hazing Namgung Byeok had suffered so terribly in my past life, a distance that grew the closer you tried to get.
It was a problem that had to be overcome.
This is a sanctuary they've built by struggling to survive here. If newcomers suddenly demand they hand over their provisions, who would react favorably?
Merely approaching them wouldn't lead to true dialogue or build trust.
In my past life, Namgung Byeok threw himself into dozens of operations, completing them successfully, and saved hundreds of soldiers with his own hands.
Back then, I threw myself into danger not for others, but for myself.
Men were passionate, and on the battlefield, they ignited quickly. The trust and faith of men were simple, yet solid.
So.
I had to show them.
Seeing is believing.
It's better to show them with one action than to speak a hundred words.
I will watch your backs. So, you too must trust me and watch mine.
...!
And let's go further and show them with our own bodies that we are people they can trust.
At my words, Gang Umun, Donghwi, and even Black Tiger nodded.
So.
I drew my sword.
Don't let your guard down.
I looked at the three men who were fired up by my words. Their eyes seemed to say, They're just bandits, how strong can they be?
Seeing the confident expressions on Gang Umun and Donghwi's faces in particular, I shook my head.
On the battlefield, everyone becomes a beast.
I tapped the back of Gang Umun's neck and both his knees with the flat of my sword.
Your limbs will stiffen, and your body will refuse to obey. If you let mercy enter your blade for even a moment, your life will end in an instant. A thrown hatchet will split your blind back open.
...!
I calmed their excited spirits.
That is the battlefield. Do you remember the fight with the Eighth Elder?
How could they forget?
They had faced death, and he was stronger than anyone they had ever faced.
Wasn't he the Eighth Elder, Namgung Sun, who swung his sword without mercy?
Few will be stronger than the Eighth Elder. But they will be more brutal. You'll feel nauseous, and you'll vomit again and again.
The stench will numb your nose, and the smell of rotting corpses will make your mind go blank.
As I added these words, the men stared at me, at a loss for what to say.
How do you know all this so well?
What in the world are you?
Before they could even ask, I kicked off the ground and shot forward.
I won't say it twice. If you want to survive, watch my back and follow me closely.
Without another word, I plunged into the Green Forest's front line without hesitation. In the body of a mere fifteen-year-old.
The gentle spring breeze embraced the heat,
which in turn met the autumn leaves and made them fall.
And then came the time when fine snow piled up on the fallen leaves.
After experiencing the changing of the seasons five times,
the boy had changed into the image of a respectable young man.
Congratulations on reaching the age of maturity!
Congratulations!
Our felicitations, Great Young Lord!
The boy, no, the young man who was the rightful heir of Namgung.
The Great Young Lord swept back his long, flowing hair and let out a deep sigh.
You all are really something else.
Something else how?
CRASH!
As a body flew and slammed into a tree, letting out a pained groan, another young man's sword pierced its heart.
Thwack. The sword point plunged in with a clean, refined skill that left no room for doubt.
The dead bandit's tongue lolled out, as if in protest of some great injustice.
You want to congratulate me in a place where corpses like that are rolling around?
You'd just sulk if we didn't.
Agh, once we get back, we'll be too busy to even think about it.
From boys to young men.
Another man smiled as he watched them, who had grown from young men into even stronger ones, now all clearly bearing the presence of martial artists.
As the two young heroes said, now is the time to celebrate Hup!
The man's two daggers sliced the bandits' wrists and knees. His movements were more than fluid; they were like a fish swimming through water, bordering on the divine.
Kuaaaaargh!
As the dark current swirled, they suddenly lost the ability to move, no
bandits who would never be able to walk again appeared one after another.
Next.
CLANG!
A sharp clash rang out as he deflected a brutally descending axe and sliced the wielder's wrist.
Swish-swish-swish-swish!
Unfurling a wave of attacks as if to dice the man's entire body, a single sword severed the neck of the bandit just as he was about to scream.
It became a sword that moved ahead of me to pierce the enemy.
As if not to be outdone by Donghwi, a light and nimble sword moved.
A storm of sword wind bloomed, tracing a comet through the air before striking down all eight hatchets thrown menacingly by the bandits.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
That became the sword that guarded my back.
It was an unbelievable sight for just three or four men to create, but the bandits trembled and took several steps back.
You bastards!
A thunderous voice echoed through Mount Sandong.
At this sight, I shrugged.
Is this the seventh time? Or the eighth? I'm starting to lose track.
The Evils of the Mountain. Bandits among bandits, renowned even in the Green Forest.
Despite that, my eyes sparkled as I prepared to approach.
You can't do that, Great Young Lord.
Why not?
Great Hero An will be furious if he finds out.
I sighed, Aigh. It was because I had sensed a presence.
He's finally here!
The drunkard appeared and approached one of the members of the Evils of the Mountain standing before him.
His eyes became like a snake's staring at a frog.
Seeing An Baek like that, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Here we go again.