Chapter 45
45.
Gamblers Should Have Their Hands Cut Off
The guys in front advanced, the ones in the middle moved to the left and right, and the ones in the back moved their heads from side to side, preparing their throwing stars.
I classified these guys as Weaponry.
Instead of fighting people, I classified and dealt with the Three-Pointed Blades, Straight Swords, Long Swords, and Judge's Brushes that were rushing in to kill me.
I had no choice but to deflect the War Weapons and naturally retreat backward.
Even in the midst of that, long Harpoons, Hooked Scythe Spears, and Wolf Tooth Clubs were rushing at me, cutting through the wind, and the throwing stars that missed me were piercing the ground and walls.
I was pushed all the way to the main hall door, then kicked the door open with my foot and retreated outside.
I took a deep breath, thinking anew how good the outside air was. In the main hall, the greedy old man and Dokgo Saeng and others were spewing out a fishy smell that made it unpleasant to breathe.
I held my sword and looked around.
The commoners of this strange land were gathering to watch the fight, but they didn't seem very excited.
'Fighting after a long time?'
That was about the extent of their expressions.
But as soon as the executives of the Black Fan Stronghold appeared, all wielding their War Weapons, their eyes widened.
In an instant, the executives surrounded me in a battle formation.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord walked out and said.
"Executives, don't let your guard down, he's a master. Squad leaders, don't jump in rashly. Those who die or get hurt will end here."
I examined the hands of the executives holding the War Weapons. Most of them were missing a few fingers.
Suddenly, I remembered something my grandfather used to mutter.
'Gamblers should have their hands cut off.'
He never explained why they should be cut off, or who caused him to say such things.
He just occasionally said that when gambling was mentioned in the inn.
Suddenly, my grandfather's words echoed in my ears.
As the fight resumed, I dealt with it using the mindset of a Fighting Chicken.
If I saw an opening, I stabbed, and if I thought it was a trick, I didn't take the bait. I deflected honest attacks and selectively dealt with unconventional attacks. The executives' offensive grew fiercer and fiercer.
Suddenly, poison salt flew at my face.
The number of throwing stars flying at me also increased.
The screams also increased.
Throwing stars that missed me flew and pierced the necks of the spectators.
One guy screamed as soon as he was covered in poison salt and ran off somewhere. I deliberately moved my body often to take in the atmosphere in all directions.
Even though twenty people launched a fierce attack, I stood firm, and only then did the executives' eyes show anxiety.
As soon as I sensed the change in their psychology, I reduced the proportion of defense and launched an attack.
As soon as I switched to offense, my mouth opened reflexively.
"Gamblers should have their hands cut off."
I moved lighter and faster than when I was defending, grabbed the middle of an incoming Harpoon with my left hand, and swung my sword to cut off the executive's wrist.
Thwack!
I didn't have the luxury of checking the guy's painful expression. While dodging a Straight Sword and a Wolf Tooth Club, I shot a Finger Wind at the eyes of the guy wielding a Three-Pointed Blade.
The moment the guy's head tilted back, I cut off the wrist connected to the Three-Pointed Blade and moved on.
A Judge's Brush drew a zigzag line in front of me, and another one rushed in with a single point.
The zigzag line is a feint, and the single point is the killing move.
I soared up, escaped the area of the feint and the killing move, and then, with my whole body upside down, I struck the guy's Blood Point with the Wooden Chicken Finger Technique and descended.
The guy holding two Judge's Brushes stiffened and briefly protected my back.
Instantly, a large number of fishhook-like throwing stars rained down. They were designed to stick into feet, even if dodged to the ground.
I grabbed the stiff guy by the back of the neck, turned him around, and held him up in front of me like a shield.
Bang, bang, bang, bang— The fishhooks pierced him with a sound. Some bounced off and rolled around on the floor.
In the meantime, a War Weapon fell on my shoulder from behind.
I inserted the sword I was holding in my right hand between my left armpit and poured out Blade Energy.
With a thud— the Blade Energy pierced the neck of the guy who was raising a Straight Sword.
"Cough!"
I looked around again and surveyed the situation.
While the Black Ship Fortress Lord remained still like the king on a chessboard, about six guys were dead or injured, and the rest still maintained their fighting spirit.
When will the king move?
I couldn't tell.
Maybe he was waiting until the very end to maintain his role as king.
I shook the blood off my sword once and looked at the guy standing behind me. He was blocking the blood flowing from his neck with the hand that had dropped his War Weapon.
I kicked the guy in the abdomen to block the incoming throwing stars, then spun around and poured out a long Blade Energy.
Whoosh!
Three guys who were approaching with Harpoons in their hands blocked the Blade Energy and fell backward at the same time. Gradually, the executives were losing stamina, and their Inner energy was being consumed, so they couldn't withstand the Blade Energy properly.
Beyond them, I briefly made eye contact with Dokgo Saeng, who was standing with his arms crossed.
Dokgo Saeng shifted his gaze to the Black Ship Fortress Lord, who was waiting quietly in the midst of all this.
"……."
Even though the executives were dying like this, the Black Ship Fortress Lord didn't give any special orders to the other squad leaders.
'Is he planning to have them kill each other?'
I speculated on the Black Ship Fortress Lord's thoughts, then easily cut off the wrists of the remaining executives. Because twenty people had attacked me together, I had focused on defense, but with half of them seriously injured or dead, the tide had turned rapidly.
I mainly chased after them, deflected their War Weapons once or twice, and then cut off their wrists. Eventually, I cut off the wrists of all the remaining executives and looked at the Black Ship Fortress Lord.
The pain-filled screams of the Black Fan Stronghold elders were mixed in here and there.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord, who had been watching the executives' defeat intently, opened his mouth.
"……You've worked hard."
I couldn't tell if he was talking to the executives or to me.
But the moment I saw the Black Ship Fortress Lord's expression, I realized he was talking to everyone.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord, holding a Wide Blade in each hand, rushed towards me and poured out a Blade Wind in the shape of a cross.
I offset the incoming Blade Wind with Blade Wind, then deflected the Black Ship Fortress Lord's Wide Blade, which had arrived with a strong wind.
It was a fierce and imposing attack, as if he could treat the executives like servants. As I deflected the Wide Blade, I thought.
This old man must have been just as much of a jerk as Dokgo Saeng when he was young.
After clashing swords about twenty times, Dokgo Saeng's sword, which I was wielding, was gradually losing its edge.
In terms of lifespan, it was older than the Black Ship Fortress Lord.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord's Wide Blade was as hard as a young man's muscles, despite its rough appearance.
During the fight, my old sword finally broke first.
In that instant, I pushed off the ground with my right foot and slid back, floating low in the air.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord warned those around him.
"Anyone who gives Lee Jaha another War Weapon……."
I stretched out both hands to the left and right and used the Great Art of Plundering Vigor. With the sound of small whirlpools swirling, two War Weapons were sucked into my hands.
A Wolf Tooth Club in my right hand.
A Judge's Brush in my left hand.
I shook my head slightly.
'This is a bit much.'
I should have looked to see what was there before pulling.
I've never heard of Ganghoin wielding a Judge's Brush and a Wolf Tooth Club at the same time. It's not classy, it's not cool, humans repeat their mistakes, oh shit.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord charged again without giving me a chance to change War Weapons.
Even I, with a lot of experience, had never fought with a combination of a Wolf Tooth Club and a Judge's Brush, but now it's a bit urgent.
The opponent is an old master in his sixties.
The lives of ordinary people around sixty are filled with joint pain, illness, back pain, presbyopia, and decreased libido, but even if a master in the Martial World in his sixties has these minor pains, he has accumulated Inner energy.
Every time the Wolf Tooth Club and the Wide Blade collided, sparks flew.
The Judge's Brush, which I held out like a kitchen knife, was blocked by the Wide Blade every time.
In short, the Black Ship Fortress Lord fought well.
It felt like Dokgo Saeng had been training in Sword Method for about forty years.
He wielded the Twin swords incredibly well, and his footwork was natural. His attack and defense were balanced, he didn't spam childish feints, and he maintained his dignity while wielding his sword bravely from beginning to end.
Whether this guy was crazy or not, he was the king of the Black Fan Stronghold when he fought. Rather, the Black Ship Fortress Lord seemed more embarrassed when I used various techniques that I hadn't shown to the executives.
While I was fighting fiercely with him, I reduced my miscellaneous thoughts. When I focused all my attention on the fight, the unnecessary sounds around me were eliminated.
"……!"
The Black Ship Fortress Lord's footsteps, the sound of his clothes fluttering, the sound of the War Weapons, and the sound of our breathing were clearly audible.
As soon as I heard his breathing, I remembered the Forget Worry Grass smoke that Dokgo Saeng was emitting, and I realized that this guy also had a lung disease. During the fight, his phlegm was bubbling.
I deliberately fought loosely for three or four exchanges and retreated.
In that instant, the Black Ship Fortress Lord spat out a mouthful of phlegm as a habit.
"Ptooey!"
Before that yellow phlegm could reach the ground, I threw the Judge's Brush.
When I heard the sound of the Wide Blade and the Judge's Brush colliding.
Clang!
I soared into the air, closed the distance, injected Inner energy into the Wolf Tooth Club, and struck down fiercely.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord realized that my attack was unusual and crossed his Wide Blades to block the falling Wolf Tooth Club.
Clang!
In the midst of the explosion…….
I used the Great Art of Plundering Vigor to pull the Judge's Brush that had fallen nearby back to me, and when the Judge's Brush came close, I turned my wrist and struck it with tensile force. The direction changed, and the force of the extension also increased.
Thwack!
"Ugh!"
Where did it hit?
Only after I swung the Wolf Tooth Club again did I see that the Judge's Brush, which I had struck with tensile force, was embedded in the Black Ship Fortress Lord's chest.
I chased after the Black Ship Fortress Lord, who was staggering backward, and continued to strike down vertically with the Wolf Tooth Club.
I kept his hands and feet busy so that he couldn't pull out the Judge's Brush stuck in his chest. The Black Ship Fortress Lord, who had blocked three times, eventually dropped his two Wide Blades and fell on his butt.
It seemed that his Qi and Blood had been reversed because he had forced himself to raise his Inner energy while injured.
Soon, blood gushed from the Black Ship Fortress Lord's mouth.
I approached with the Wolf Tooth Club in my hand and looked down at the Black Ship Fortress Lord.
"Fortress Lord, can't you get up?"
The Black Ship Fortress Lord nodded wearily and said in a commanding tone.
"……Stop it."
How long had he been playing king to speak to me in a commanding tone even in this situation?
"I'm not your slave. Why are you talking like that?"
A person who points out the way someone speaks even to a dying person, that is also me.
The Black Ship Fortress Lord smiled, revealing his blood-stained teeth.
"If you let my subordinates heal me, I will appoint you as the next Fortress Lord. You won't lose anything. You will have everything in the Black Fan Stronghold."
His voice was so small that I couldn't hear him well, but that was roughly what he meant.
I didn't accept the Black Ship Fortress Lord's offer.
"I refuse."
"Refuse……They are all foolish guys. They are foolish guys who can't even take care of themselves if they don't receive orders. Take them and use them."
Is this the perspective of someone who has lived by using slaves? I thought the Black Ship Fortress Lord was about to die, so I asked for his last words.
"Fortress Lord, say something before you die."
The Black Ship Fortress Lord barely raised his head and left these words to the people of the Black Fan Stronghold.
"You foolish guys, you've worked hard."
While he was letting out a strange, metallic laugh, I smashed the Black Ship Fortress Lord's head with the Wolf Tooth Club I had raised.
Thwack!
"You're a pain in the ass until the end."
On behalf of the slaves who were sold for money, I struck the smashed spot again.
I struck the Wolf Tooth Club down again, thinking of the foolish guys who were addicted to gambling and stole and squandered their family's money, borrowed money, family money, friends' money, and even the money of the neighbor's grandmother of their in-laws.
Still, I struck the Wolf Tooth Club down, thinking that you ate delicious food, slept comfortably, and lived warmly.
A lot of the blood and flesh fragments that were crushed and splattered stuck to my face. I struck down again with emotion, thinking that my sin wouldn't be deepened if I hit the dead guy with the Wolf Tooth Club one more time. This time, the Wolf Tooth Club fell to the ground, making the sound even louder.
Clang!
I looked around the Black Fan Stronghold with a blood-soaked face.
"……."