Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Headless Samurai Pursuit
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The revived corpses, driven purely by instinct, couldn't make the simple choice to just go around the side. They simply kept charging and slipping toward the entrance where friction was near zero, over and over.
"Ugh."
This area was somehow under control... Hearing Han Sang-ah's groan, I turned my gaze to the side.
"What the hell is that?"
A headless corpse clad in samurai armor was gripping a katana, facing off against Han Sang-ah. She was being pushed back. And behind her, I could see the people who didn't know what to do.
They looked exhausted from days without proper food or water, filthy from not being able to wash, their limbs bound with ropes that had dug into their flesh, soaked in blood and pus.
"Hey, switch with me!"
At my words, I heard her teeth grind together.
"Got it."
Han Sang-ah seemed disappointed in her own skills, but she wasn't about to make a stupid call out of frustration. As she dashed toward the hostages, I blocked the headless samurai's attack aimed at that opening, wrapping my spear in black flames.
"Oh dear, did you leave your head behind and come all the way here with just your body?"
No head meant no answer to my question, of course. I slickly deflected the blade meeting my spear and drove a kick straight into its exposed chest. With the sensation of striking metal, the thing's body was shoved backward.
"Cold."
I checked my leg as I retreated. Some kind of curse. After burning it away with Paradox Flame, I examined the sword it had been holding. A sinister purplish energy rippled along the blade.
How sinister? The kind of sleaziness you'd feel from a fat middle-aged guy licking the thigh of a girl young enough to be his daughter.
― Sacrifice... must protect.
"Holy shit. The corpse is talking. Wait, how's a headless thing even speaking?"
The creature snapped into a stance.
The energy it harbored was pervy and sinister, but its form was solid—like a Jenga tower I'd stacked up before playing a game.
Unlike the other corpses, this headless one seemed like a special specimen.
"How much longer?"
Han Sang-ah shouted back at my question.
"Just burned the last one!"
Then I had no reason to stick around here anymore. Dealing with this guy wouldn't be hard... but why bother? No need.
"Nice meeting you."
As I greeted it and pulled back, the thing slammed its sword into the ground. The blade sank in, and the sinister energy coiled around it took the form of a serpent lunging at me.
I didn't block it. Keeping my retreat, I dodged the snake's maw and leaped onto the ceiling of the mid-sized van.
"Since we're in Japan anyway, how about some Japanese I know? Hey, okay!"
I shouted that and slammed my spear down onto the roof.
With a crunch-grrrrind, the wheels tore up the ground as the van bolted forward like a bull taking a dump.
"Don't go back through the entrance! The van'll slip!"
"I know. I've got eyes too."
I yelled from my perch on top, and a reply came right away from the driver's seat.
"Han Sang-ah, sword!"
At my call, an arm shot out from the driver's side. It clutched a sword. I grabbed it, drew on the gauntlet's mana, and kicked off the van, surging forward.
Running faster than the van Han Sang-ah was driving, I slashed through obstructing trees, bushes, corpses, and ghosts alike, clearing a path.
"Faster, even faster!"
Drawing mana once made dozens of sword afterimages flicker into existence in the air and vanish.
Appearing in an instant and gone just as quick.
"Just like the balance in my paycheck account."
I carved through the mountain's trees and foliage like a clipper buzzing hair, opening a way, until we finally hit a proper road.
"Gotta slow the van down—can you help?"
"Yeah."
I sighed heavily at Han Sang-ah's words, positioned myself ahead on the road, and steeled my resolve. Facing the mid-sized van barreling at 150 kph, I thrust both hands forward while channeling the bracelet's mana.
I caught the charging van with both hands, redirecting its momentum as much as possible, twisting its direction.
The stench of burning tires filled the air as neat skid marks etched across the road once more. Then I hopped aboard with a flourish.
"Now, straight to the harbor—no looking back."
Once we got there, the fishermen rescue would be a success. Total survivors: seven.
"That's fewer than expected. No bodies?"
Han Sang-ah shook her head at my question.
"Why not ask them?"
I shook my head at her suggestion.
"Not now. Let them rest first."
No telling how long they'd been held captive on this island. Probably ages. First things first: get them hot food and some sleep.
Of course, shoveling hot rice into stomachs starved for proper meals could be dangerous. Refeeding syndrome or whatever. Anyway, they needed rest.
Better to ask about the missing ones later.
"We should contact police HQ, request medical support personnel too."
"Sounds good."
I had no clue what specific care these folks needed. I'm no doctor. I called out to the survivors.
"Any more survivors?"
"They're... all dead."
One managed a hoarse reply.
"That's enough."
At least it meant no one else we needed to risk everything to save right now.
"Persistent bastards."
Han Sang-ah muttered blankly, glancing in the rearview at the pursuing corpses and ghosts.
"The boss is coming too."
Leading the pack was the headless samurai I'd nearly tangled with earlier.
"Wonder where it ditched Red Hare and started running on foot."
I muttered that and clambered over the passenger seat to the back with the survivors.
"There you are."
I spotted the green cart we used for hauling gear.
"What're you doing?"
"Extreme sports."
I strapped seatbelts around each survivor, tied the cart's handle to the van with rope, and kicked open the back doors.
"Drive safe."
With that, I rode the roped cart right off the back.
The van sped on. The towed cart screeched wildly. Balancing atop it, I adjusted the rope length with one hand and grinned at the headless samurai charging at the front.
"Hey there?"
This cart's wheels could melt at this speed—no surprise. These things are for hauling cargo, not sleighing.
But right now? Fine. I'd burned away the friction where the wheels met the axle.
No friction meant no heat buildup. No melting tires, obviously. Durability was a concern, though. Paradox Flame destroys things—it doesn't protect or repair.
Even if Paradox Flame got stronger, it'd just let me burn away durability faster, not reinforce it. But no worries. I'd already torched the friction on the cart's underbelly too.
Wheels bust? The frictionless base would slide like a snowboard, letting me keep this insanity going.
"Always wanted to try something like this once in life."
I thrust my spear with one hand; it drew its sword to parry and leaped high.
Blade and spear clashed endlessly in midair, sparks flying with each impact. Every swerve of the van made the roped cart dance along.
"Just... fuck off already. Why so clingy?"
I booted its chest; the headless samurai flew back, flipping midair to reset its stance and charge again.
Being a corpse, no fatigue, I guess. Finally, with a crack, the relentless shocks shattered the cart's wheels.
The underbelly scraped the road. Then the van took a sharp curve.
"Kh."
Yanking hard on the rope sent my body—and the cart—arcing high in a massive loop. Even then, the headless samurai and corpses doggedly pursued.
I burst three heads, parried the samurai's sword, touched down lightly on the cart's bottom with my toes, and yanked the rope.
Whoosh—the flipped cart slammed back to the road, my body landing neatly atop it.
"How much farther?"
"Almost there. Wait, we're here."
I took a deep breath at her shout. The charging corpses and ghosts suddenly wrapped in white light, black smoke billowing from their bodies as they shuddered and froze in place.
This was the Talisman Drawing Method's zone of influence. The van pulled up in front of the hotel.
"Yeah, figured you could take it, headless buddy."
Not everyone succumbed to the Talisman Drawing Method. The headless samurai billowed black smoke but advanced steadily toward us.
The rabble couldn't endure, but this one was confirmed special. Still, it didn't look pristine.
"Stupid corpse."
It had been my equal when fully intact—crawling this far?
"Get the people inside the van. No water or food yet."
Who knows what could happen if they ate recklessly. Doctors would come by boat; they'd handle it. We just needed to keep them safe.
Paradox Flame blazed along my spear. Han Sang-ah began carefully moving the people from the van to the hotel.
As if it couldn't stand by, the headless samurai gripped its sword and charged at her—but
"Where you going without me? Don't be like that."
My spear met the crashing sword waves, writhing like piranhas swimming the current, homing in on its body.
― You...
The thing muttered that, then suddenly retreated, straightening its stance. No breath, yet it looked like it was steadying itself.
"Mind's Eye—it knows. Be careful."
Han Sang-ah, still shuttling people carefully, spotted it and warned me.
"Mind's Eye?"
She answered my question.
"Beyond the five senses—a new sense awakens. The realm where you anticipate and counter attacks before they happen. How can a corpse...?"
"Oh, that."
I snorted softly after hearing her explanation.
It's a stage you trip into while honing weapon mastery.
Loosely put, it's an illusion interpreted as the mind's eye.
"Don't take it lightly. It's a realm reached only after years of serious martial arts training."
"What about you?"
She shook her head at my question.
"I'm still far from it. A long way off."
"...Listen up. Just once."
I ran my hand down the spear and stated firmly to Han Sang-ah.
"The mind has no eyes."
Obvious fact, right? Why do people ignore that and believe otherwise?
Dealing with something deluded by that "Mind's Eye" illusion was actually way easier for me.
I knew the trick to it.