The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 19

Swordmaster Wants to Live in Peace – Episode 19

The King of Corpses (3)

“When is he going to wake up?”

Back at the hotel, Yoo Ji-woo looked down at the dragon, who was fast asleep in the bed.

The dragon was still out cold. It was breathing, but showed no signs of waking up.

“From what I can see, it won’t be waking up anytime soon. At least not until we take out the Elder Lich of the City of Night.”

“Why?”

“All of the dragon’s magic is concentrated in that Elder Lich. It seems that for a long time, the Elder Lich has been extracting the dragon’s magic and converting it into its own. The Elder Lich is practically made of the dragon’s magic.”

“So, you’re saying that if we kill that Elder Lich, the gate to the City of Night will close, and this dragon will wake up too?”

“Yeah. Of course, if the dragon shows hostility towards us after waking up, we’ll have no choice but to kill it.”

Yoo Seong-woo said, tapping the dragon’s horn with his finger.

He touched the horn, said to be the most sensitive of the dragon’s external magic organs, but there was no reaction.

He took his finger off the horn, got up from his spot, and said,

“Rest up. We’ll have to go back into the Abyss in a few hours.”

“What about you, Oppa [term of endearment used by a younger woman to address an older brother or male friend]?”

“I’m going out for some air.”

Yoo Seong-woo said, grabbing his jacket and heading outside.

He headed to the hotel rooftop.

Standing on the hotel rooftop and looking at the sky, he saw that it was already a red sunset.

It had been morning when he first entered the City of Night, meaning that more than half a day had already passed.

He sat down, leaning against the backdrop of the red sunset, and closed his eyes.

A cold wind blew.

The harsh wind, as if digging into his skin, cleared his mind, leaving only ‘Elder Lich’ in his head.

The Elder Lich’s movements and the magic it used.

He poured in everything he knew about the Lich’s combat methods, then began a virtual battle against the ‘Elder Lich,’ which had been strengthened several times over.

He considered all sorts of possibilities in his head and ran simulations.

The routine he did every day before facing a strong enemy.

He imagined countless scenarios and created a route to kill the enemy.

He had only faced the Elder Lich for a brief moment, but he clearly remembered its power.

‘Cut, cut… and cut again.’

A fierce battle was taking place in his head.

Yoo Seong-woo, wielding a blood-red sword, and Azaha, the Elder Lich leading all sorts of magic and the undead, clashed.

Yoo Seong-woo cut down the approaching undead and the viscous black magic.

Cold sweat ran down his forehead as he sat.

The battle continued dozens of times in his head.

“If it comes out like that, I will…”

He thought in his head and muttered to himself.

After some time, Yoo Seong-woo’s entire body was soaked with sweat.

His muscles twitched as if he had been in a truly fierce fight, and creaking sounds could be heard from all over his body.

Finally, he opened his eyes and took a long breath, and hot steam rose from his entire body.

“I guess this is enough of a warm-up.”

He got up from his seat and pulled on various parts of his body, checking his condition.

His body was warmed up enough.

Just right, in fact.

It was the perfect condition to go and cut down corpses.

* * *

“The plan is as I explained at the beginning. If you have any objections, beat me in a fight and then present them.”

‘That’s just telling us not to, isn’t it…’

“Then, let’s go.”

Led by Yoo Seong-woo, S-class and A-class Hunters moved into the City of Night.

The A-class Hunters, who didn’t know the full story, were persuaded by the S-class Hunters.

“If you want to die, don’t act alone. Becoming corpse food and turning into a corpse is really just a moment away.”

The entrance to the City of Night was still devastated.

However, even though Yoo Seong-woo had taken down most of them, some of it was still filled with undead.

Yoo Seong-woo divided this City of Night raid into three stages.

The first is the occupation of the Baekseong [White Castle].

The second is to drive the Elder Lich to the Black Castle.

The third is the subjugation of the Elder Lich.

Until the second stage, Yoo Seong-woo decided to conserve his strength as much as possible, so the S-class Divers took the lead.

The adventurers exploring the Abyss set foot in the land of the dead.

As those in the lead took the first step, dozens of Divers followed in their footsteps.

As planned in advance, they split into three groups and moved.

They would strike the undead forces from three directions, break through, and occupy the Baekseong.

Team 1 led by Seongunryong.

Team 2 led by Yoo Ji-woo.

Team 3 commanded by Hong Seo-hwa.

The Divers, divided into three groups, struck the undead forces in the Plains of Death from each direction.

Although the undead had been strengthened by the appearance of the Elder Lich, they could not stop the charge led by the S-class Divers.

Dozens of high-ranking Divers swept through the Plains of Death.

They lightly swept away the entrance area and reached the Baekseong, where Yoo Seong-woo stepped forward.

He swung his sword towards the entrance of the Baekseong, which was now firmly covered with bones.

The swaying red sword energy split the entrance in half in an instant, revealing the gate.

Team 2, led by Yoo Ji-woo, entered through the main gate of the Baekseong, and the other teams began their attack through the other gates on both sides.

The plan was for Yoo Ji-woo’s team, which had the strongest breakthrough power, to quickly stir up the interior, while the other teams would clean up the remnants.

“Haaaaaaap!”

Yoo Ji-woo ran through the corridors of the Baekseong, swinging her sword.

She, who had somewhat accomplished the task of combining sword and magic, shot the [Fireball] that had risen behind her forward, crushing the undead.

The undead inside the Baekseong were Draugrs [undead creatures from Norse mythology] and the ghost monster, Banshees [female spirit in Irish folklore whose wailing warns of an impending death].

They rushed in with a terrifying momentum.

The Banshees were easily defeated by Yoo Ji-woo’s magic, and the Draugrs were beheaded by her sword and rolled around.

Yoo Seong-woo stayed close behind Yoo Ji-woo, only blocking the attacks coming from blind spots.

Team 2 rampaged through the interior of the Baekseong at a rapid pace.

It hadn’t been long since Yoo Seong-woo had been there, but that was because Team 2’s strength was so powerful.

They quickly reached the main hall of the Baekseong and faced three Death Knights.

The location of the mid-boss, where there should only be one in the usual City of Night.

Yoo Ji-woo stepped forward to face them, but Yoo Seong-woo grabbed her first and pulled her back.

“No time.”

And the next moment, as Yoo Seong-woo’s sword drew a curve,

The Death Knights, who had raised their shields, were split in half along with their shields and disappeared into black smoke.

The Divers who followed behind exclaimed in admiration at the overwhelming force.

Three mid-boss level enemies in one strike.

It was such a tremendous attack that it was hard to believe that they had been strengthened by the Elder Lich.

Yoo Seong-woo, who had defeated the Death Knights in an instant, immediately headed to the hole he had made earlier and looked outside.

Noisy sounds came on the wind from all directions.

The other two teams also seemed to be clearing the inside of the Baekseong and coming up without much difficulty.

“But it’s strange.”

The Black Castle was too quiet.

He thought they would show some kind of reaction if they invaded the Baekseong, but he never expected them to be unresponsive.

‘Besides…’

He didn’t know what it was, but an enormous energy was gathering in the sky above the Black Castle.

Azaha was preparing something to face Yoo Seong-woo.

Yoo Seong-woo, who had confirmed the scene from afar, licked his lips.

“I’ll know what it is when I go and check.”

The first breakthrough team to arrive, Yoo Ji-woo’s team, immediately set up camp in the main hall.

The A-class Diver from the Osaek Mudang Society [Korean shamanistic organization] performed a purification ritual in the main hall to prevent the approach of the undead, and a warm warmth enveloped the main hall.

“Hoo, hoo.”

“Why all the fuss just to cast a barrier once?”

Yoo Seong-woo said, looking at the Diver who was breathing heavily as if he was exhausted from performing the purification ritual.

“That’s how the Mudang side is originally. They say that the fuel efficiency is bad because they borrow the power of God. But the performance is good.”

“Well… Borrowing anything generally has bad fuel efficiency.”

“Have you met some people like that before, Oppa?”

“I’ve met a lot. How many guys would have sacrificed people to borrow the power of demons…”

“…It gives me goosebumps just imagining it.”

“There’s one right in front of us, isn’t there? Over there in the Black Castle. That guy is the same.”

It was an undeniable fact that Azaha had grown stronger by exploiting the dragon’s magic for a long time.

It was also undeniable that he had grown stronger by sacrificing the lives of others, even though the dragon was not human.

Not long after they set up camp, Team 1 and Team 3 entered the main hall.

“Seong-woo-nim [honorific title]! You’re amazing as expected! To break through to the main hall in such a short time! It’s probably a world record!”

“The City of Night is only in Korea, so what world record are you talking about…”

“That’s what I mean. Anyway, you’re amazing.”

Hong Seo-hwa was acting overly friendly.

Yoo Seong-woo crossed his arms and avoided her blatant appeal.

“It’s really an honor to be with you this time. I won’t have many opportunities to see that sword again.”

But there was one more person next to her.

It was Baek Woo-hyeon, a disciple of Seongunryong of the Bonkuk Sword Society [fictional swordmanship school] and called the ‘Jeoncheondo Traveler’.

After attacking the 2nd level Abyss before, they were drawn to Yoo Seong-woo’s strength and acted as friendly as possible.

Yoo Ji-woo felt uncomfortable with the two of them and left her seat for a while.

Yoo Seong-woo also looked very annoyed, so she wanted to leave him alone for a while longer.

“Excuse me, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Yes. You can.”

Seongunryong spoke to her.

He opened his mouth with a face full of curiosity about who Yoo Seong-woo was.

“You said he was your brother, but I can’t understand it at all. No matter how much of a Returner he is, how can he be so strong?”

Yoo Ji-woo had no choice but to tilt her head at Seongunryong’s words.

It wasn’t that she felt bad about his words, but she really didn’t know.

Returners are a very small number of people.

Those who were taken to another world without a sound on the day the Abyss first appeared, or after that, and then returned.

The types of other worlds are various.

There are orthodox fantasy worlds, worlds that seem to come out of martial arts novels, and there are also apocalypses.

Dozens or hundreds of worlds that people have drawn in novels.

People who are taken to such places learn magic, swordsmanship, or mental cultivation from other worlds and return stronger.

Until now, Returners have not been very prominent.

Many of them failed to adapt to the difference between the other world and the modern world and declared a break with the world.

The strongest of them was only in the upper ranks of the S-class Divers.

Yoo Ji-woo and Seongunryong, who knew this fact well, could not help but question Yoo Seong-woo’s strength even more.

How is he so strong?

How did he train his strength?

What happened that he gained power beyond the norm?

“I don’t know either. My brother, who I’ve been separated from for 10 years, suddenly came back disgustingly strong.”

“Didn’t he tell you what happened in the other world?”

“I heard it. Well, he only had a hard time? He said he lived fighting every day because it was such a barren place.”

“I see…”

“I’m a little curious too. How did the elders of the Bonkuk Sword Society see my brother?”

“…I can’t say. Not only the explosive power that bursts out momentarily, but also the technique is complete. The body is also perfect.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief. I don’t think my brother will be beaten up anywhere.”

“Is that all?”

“Then what else do you need? He’s my brother anyway. I can’t stand seeing my family get beaten up anywhere.”

“…Okay. I’ll be going now.”

Seongunryong said that and turned around to take a rest.

Yoo Ji-woo turned her gaze to Yoo Seong-woo.

He seemed to be answering the questions of Hong Seo-hwa and Baek Woo-hyeon, who were chattering next to him, even though he was very annoyed.

“I’ve been wondering this for a while, but do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“An ex-girlfriend?”

“There’s no way…”

Hong Seo-hwa clenched her fist tightly.

Baek Woo-hyeon looked at her from the side with a contemptuous expression.

It wasn’t a very nutritious conversation. Yoo Seong-woo sighed deeply and announced that it was time.

“It’s time to leave. Get ready.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, I’ll get ready right now.”

It was time to hunt the Elder Lich.