The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 17

The King of Corpses

“In Buyaseong? How far in? The Black Castle?”

“I brought one from the Black Castle’s basement. The reason a Rank 3 became a Rank 1 is probably because of the undead down there.”

“Didn’t you just say you didn’t know?!”

Yoo Ji-woo squeezed her eyes shut and looked up.

She couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening.

Being summoned because a Rank 3 suddenly became a Rank 1 was already a headache, but then her brother calls her over, and there’s a kid with horns and a tail lying on the hotel bed…

In many ways, the situation was so tangled that her brain refused to understand.

She sighed deeply and parted her lips.

“…Sigh. It’s not like there are absolutely no *yizhu* [異族, non-human races] from the Abyss. There are cases where creatures inside the Abyss are friendly to humans.”

“And?”

“Those cases usually involve races that can communicate. Races like elves or dwarves that commonly appear in fantasy. But I’ve never seen the race of the kid *oppa* [older brother] brought. What is it? Some kind of lizard demihuman?”

“Don’t you see the horns here? Are there horned lizards?”

“There are horned lizards that live in the Texas desert.”

Oh, there are.

“But the horns on the kid *oppa* brought look like cow horns, and the tail seems reptilian….”

Because of its unique appearance, Yoo Ji-woo could only tilt her head, unable to guess.

Eventually, Yoo Seong-woo poked the girl’s cheek with his finger and said,

“It’s a dragon. Still a child.”

“A, a dragon?”

At the word dragon, Yoo Ji-woo took a step back, startled.

Yoo Seong-woo looked at her at the unexpectedly strong reaction, and she took a deep breath, stroked her chest, and continued.

“No way. A dragon?”

“Why are you reacting like that?”

“…Of course. Dragons are called humanity’s greatest enemy.”

Yoo Ji-woo added a brief explanation.

During the ‘Great Cataclysm’ when Abyss Rushes occurred simultaneously due to the appearance of Abyss that surpassed S-rank worldwide in the past.

It was none other than dragons who stood at the forefront of the monsters and killed more humans than anyone else.

Flapping their wings, they stirred up the battlefield with bodies full of scales that missiles and spears couldn’t penetrate.

The magic and breath they spewed took the lives of many at once.

After the Great Cataclysm, dragons, who left behind many records, became objects of fear.

If they were to appear, they would be avoided and targeted for extermination.

That’s how much dragons were a race that caused great social disruption.

“Other *yizhu* also warned about dragons.”

“These guys are just as vicious in any world.”

“…Was it like that where *oppa* was? Then why did you bring it outside?”

“…I just thought something bigger might happen if I left it there. It suddenly called for its mom. It reminded me of you when you were little, so I couldn’t kill it.”

A memory only Yoo Seong-woo knew.

After their parents passed away, when only the two of them were left, Yoo Ji-woo missed her parents a lot.

She even moaned in the middle of the night, calling for her mom or dad.

Yoo Seong-woo overlapped that image of Yoo Ji-woo with the dragon.

It wasn’t wrong to say it was nonsense, even if he was cursed out.

Dragons are objects of fear.

They are enemies that must be killed.

So, he was quiet, thinking Yoo Ji-woo would say something.

“…Is that so? Okay.”

Yoo Ji-woo readily agreed.

Of course, in the process, she looked at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and sighed.

“Then, since it doesn’t seem like it’ll wake up, let’s leave it alone and figure out what to do about Buyaseong first?”

“That’s right, you said last time that if you take the core out of the Abyss, it disappears, right?”

“Yeah. That’s the easiest way to close the Abyss. Why?”

“In my opinion, this dragon’s heart was the core of the Abyss. But I’m curious about the phenomenon where the Abyss is maintained even though I brought the dragon out.”

It was Yoo Seong-woo’s question.

According to what he heard from Yoo Ji-woo, if you take the Abyss Core outside, the Abyss should not be maintained and should collapse.

But even though he brought out the dragon, which was clearly the core of the Abyss, it didn’t collapse.

Rather, it emitted an even greater energy and was upgraded from Rank 3 to Rank 1.

At his question, Yoo Ji-woo pondered for a moment before opening her mouth.

“Hmm, I’ve never heard of it, but if there’s a possibility, it would be that there’s a substitute inside to replace the core.”

“A substitute?”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t it be possible if there was a medium with a vast amount of energy to replace the core?”

“If that’s the case….”

There was.

There was something that could sufficiently replace the Dragon Heart.

The Crown of Azaha.

It was clear that it had been replacing the core of the Abyss with magic power drawn from the Dragon Heart for a long time.

It even promoted him to Elder Lich with that power, so it was impossible to guess how much magic power it had stored.

“You have something in mind, don’t you, *oppa*?”

“Yeah. And the boss monster inside Buyaseong is an Elder Lich.”

“Lich? A Lich wouldn’t cause a Rank 1 to appear… No, an Elder Lich? What’s that?”

“Don’t you know? It’s a higher species than a Lich.”

“I’ve never heard of it….”

“You should have read some fantasy novels usually.”

At Yoo Seong-woo’s words, Yoo Ji-woo looked at him with a ‘don’t talk nonsense’ face.

“Anyway, it’s a terribly dangerous guy. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a monster that has transcended death and is said to have reached the realm of a demigod.”

“A demigod… How do you catch such a guy?”

“…It’s no different from how you deal with a Lich. You have to break the ‘Soul Crystal’ that contains their soul.”

And that Soul Crystal.

‘It must be his crown.’

There was no other explanation.

In the end, to get rid of the Abyss, he had to go back into that Abyss.

Of course, Yoo Seong-woo, who was planning to go again, took a deep breath.

“Damn corpse bastard….”

* * *

After Buyaseong was promoted to a Rank 1 Abyss, all available manpower flocked to Goesan.

Not only S-rank Divers but also A-rank Divers.

“How are things going?”

Yoo Seong-woo asked Yoo Ji-woo, who had come from the Buyaseong strategy meeting.

“…The reconnaissance team has been formed. Since a Rank 3 has been upgraded to a Rank 1, the inside has also changed, and since Buyaseong was an Abyss where the core was not found in the first place, initial reconnaissance will be very important.”

“That’s not wrong. What’s the reconnaissance team’s strength?”

“Three S-ranks and ten A-ranks.”

“What about you?”

“I’m on the main team. My mobility isn’t that good.”

“Hmm….”

Yoo Seong-woo pondered for a moment.

The Elder Lich is a disaster just by existing.

The aura of death it emits revives corpses just by passing by and enhances their abilities.

Quite some time has passed since he came out, so Azaha inside must also be accumulating power.

To catch him and the dragon outside the Abyss.

“With that force, they’ll all die. Since there’s an Elder Lich, the general skeletons will be strengthened to be slightly weaker than Death Knights.”

“Is it that strong?”

“Yeah. The Elder Lich is a disaster just by existing. There’s even a saying that you have to abandon that land and leave just because it appeared.”

Moreover, even if they manage to drive out or defeat the Elder Lich, the aura of death remains thick.

In other words, that land becomes a dead land.

A dead land where even crops don’t grow, and life can’t live.

That’s why you must never let the Elder Lich out and must deal with it inside.

“And that’s not all. It’s difficult to even approach the Elder Lich. Ordinary humans have no resistance to the aura of death. You need a priest with strong purification power.”

“A priest?”

“What, don’t you have one?”

“No, we have them, but usually, they’re healers, right? Those kids who use holy power or whatever to heal.”

“Yeah. I don’t know what the principle is, but the power of faith has the ability to make things that have defied fate find their course.”

That’s why clerics were essential when dealing with the undead.

‘I bled like crazy because I didn’t have a cleric when I fought him….’

But even then, it wasn’t a bad situation.

It was a Lich who hadn’t reached the level of Elder Lich, and there were comrades to fight with.

Everyone was dead or evacuated, so there was nothing to protect, and he could fight without hesitation.

“Anyway, tell them that. Send only a few really fast reconnaissance members and tell them never to fight the undead.”

“I’ll try to tell them that, but I don’t know if they’ll accept it. I don’t have that much say.”

Yoo Ji-woo is the CEO of a rising company called Meteor Industry, but as a Diver, she inevitably has little say.

She’s an S-rank, but she’s in the middle to lower ranks among S-ranks.

“Well, if they don’t accept it… they’ll all die. No, let’s go together instead.”

“Are you okay? I thought *oppa* didn’t like being noticed.”

Yoo Ji-woo asked at Yoo Seong-woo’s words to go to the Divers together.

That wasn’t wrong.

Since returning, Yoo Seong-woo didn’t want to become famous.

He fully realized that all that fame brings is fear of strength.

He just wanted to live peacefully with moderation and without any interference.

Quiet life, how good is that?

But the world didn’t let him be quiet.

“…I realized. A peaceful life is only peaceful when there are no guys disturbing it.”

“You’re talking like a wise man who’s realized something.”

“It’s wise man time.”

With those words, Yoo Seong-woo started walking ahead.

The place he headed to was the Divers’ camp in front of the large abyss hole.

Inside, S-rank Divers were gathered and busy seeking ways to attack Buyaseong.

Among them, a tall man intervened.

“There are faces I’ve seen before, and faces I haven’t seen before.”

“Oh, y, you are!”

The first to react to Yoo Seong-woo was the swordsman with the alias ‘Akagawa no Ryu’ [赤川兒龍, Red River Dragon], Hong Seo-hwa.

He widened his eyes like a dog that had met its owner after a long time and approached.

And next to him was ‘Denten Dokkaku’ [電天刀客, Lightning Sky Swordsman] Baek Woo-hyeon, who also had wide eyes.

S-rank Divers who had attacked the previous Rank 2 Abyss were gathered.

“Do you have a cigarette?”

“Here you go.”

At his question, Hong Seo-hwa snatched a cigarette from his subordinate Diver’s pocket and presented it.

As Yoo Seong-woo took a cigarette from the cigarette case and put it in his mouth, Hong Seo-hwa lit the fire with his ability.

“*Oppa*, do you smoke too?”

“I used to for a while.”

Yoo Ji-woo, who followed, asked, and Yoo Seong-woo answered briefly before exhaling smoke.

Then, he roughly pulled a chair next to him and sat down.

The gazes of the Divers who didn’t know his identity were poured out at his attitude.

They sent angry gazes at the extremely rude appearance.

Yoo Seong-woo calmly accepted their gazes and opened his mouth.

“I’m Yoo Seong-woo, a Diver exclusively for Meteor Industry CEO. I’m also Ji-woo’s *oppa*. You guys look like you’re wondering who I am, but you can think of me as stronger than all of you.”