Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 98

The short sword is drawn from its sheath.

Clang!

With a sound like fireworks exploding, fragments of aura scattered in all directions.

‘Fast.’

The deployment of aura, the speed of the draw.

I had an idea, but the man wielding that short sword was skilled.

I felt the weight in the hand holding Black Night and widened my eyes.

Perhaps… it might be a difficult fight.

“Get behind me.”

“Yes.”

At my words, Jeong Jin-soo hurriedly moved behind me.

“Ahem, ahem! You swordsman! Who told you to swing your sword so suddenly!”

Yang Seo-dan also moved to avoid the attack.

A brief standoff ensued.

I frowned.

‘This situation has become troublesome.’

I had expected a smooth resolution, followed by a deal.

Yang Seo-dan was proving easier to handle than I thought. He was authoritarian and foolish, so all I had to do was cater to his tastes.

Since such a person had come to me, I was planning to block the Nine Dragons Union’s intervention and build a relationship at the same time.

But Yang Seo-dan was even more out of his mind than I thought.

‘In the future, he was still recognized for his political skills and knew how to calculate, but is he even more pathetic now?’

I had met people who were more impressive than their reputations suggested in my past life, but I never expected someone to be even more of an idiot than I remembered.

‘More importantly, who the hell is this guy?’

I looked at the young warrior escorting Yang Seo-dan.

He looked to be around 17 to 19 years old at most.

He was a young man with a sharp jawline and a cold gaze.

‘The smell of blood.’

I smelled iron, gunpowder, and blood coming from the man holding the short sword and facing me.

A strong murderous aura emanated from him.

The scar across his eye suggested that he had not lived a peaceful life.

‘I’ve never sensed this kind of energy before.’

A warrior of a different breed than those from the Soongmoo Yi family.

A swordsman who had naturally developed a strong murderous aura through countless battles.

The three escort warriors standing around him were of no concern.

Only this young man with the short sword in front of me mattered.

Meanwhile, Jang Han, who had exchanged blows with me, was also shocked.

A chill.

Jang Han felt the hairs on his skin stand on end.

‘Strong.’

Judging from the face visible through the mask and the voice that had recently gone through puberty when speaking to Jeong Jin-soo, Jang Han expected that the opponent would not be much older than him.

‘I was going to cut his throat in one strike, but he sensed it and reacted.’

Jang Han had learned the techniques of an assassin, not a warrior.

And as is usual with assassin techniques, he had always fought with speed and stealth.

That’s why this didn’t make sense.

Even though it was a frontal attack, it shouldn’t have been blocked so easily.

Jang Han lowered his short sword and gauged the distance to his opponent.

‘…Ten steps. Any more is impossible.’

If he got closer to that boy within ten steps, he wasn’t confident that he could completely control the situation.

But unfortunately, this was a hotel suite.

It was already within ten steps.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Jang Han gripped his short sword.

‘I’m just carrying out my mission as always.’

And.

Tap!

Jang Han and I rushed towards each other simultaneously.

* * *

As if by agreement.

The moment I stepped forward, the opponent also took a step.

Then, one step to the side, and the short sword moved slightly to the side.

I gripped Black Night and blocked the middle.

And.

‘Here it comes!’

Swish!

The short sword was swung with a sharp sound.

My instincts rang an alarm.

‘Head? Heart?’

Since I couldn’t use the Evil Eye, I entrusted everything to my instincts.

Clang!

The short sword twisted at an unexpected angle and aimed for my neck.

“Hiss!”

Clatter!

Black Night and the short sword met in the air and fought for dominance.

It felt like pushing a huge rock.

Even with that much power, the opponent had more than just strength.

Thump! Swish!

The sound of wind as the sword was pushed away.

Head, neck, solar plexus.

I sensed the strikes accurately targeting only the vitals.

Clang! Chaang!

I dodged one strike and blocked the next two consecutive strikes with a wide swing of my sword.

A chill ran down my spine.

Each strike was aimed only at the vitals, where a direct hit would cause serious injury.

‘This isn’t orthodox martial arts.’

Not only the Soongmoo Yi family, but most martial arts families are not like this.

The murderous intent is excessively strong.

They were thoroughly targeting only the vitals, where they could inflict serious injury if they could land even one direct hit.

Confined space.

The opponent was wielding a short sword longer than Black Night, but in many ways, the martial arts of an assassin were bound to be superior.

But.

‘If that’s all there is to it, I win.’

I rotated Black Night and quickly approached.

I drew up my aura.

I couldn’t use a large technique in such a confined indoor space.

That’s why the aura skill I would use was decided.

Strong Qi Art, Cutting Wind.

It was the most powerful aura skill in a one-on-one situation.

Swish!

The sharp blade of aura formed at the tip of the sword was swung.

“Ugh!”

Jang Han barely managed to defend himself by deploying his aura.

And he was about to launch a counterattack right away.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

The sword flew in again after the powerful attack.

‘Again?’

An abnormal angle.

It was swung again from the same angle it had passed.

‘Doesn’t he care about injuries!’

He was swinging large techniques in succession and moving in directions that his body couldn’t withstand.

How was that possible unless his tendons and joints were made of steel?

It was at that moment.

Crack!

Jang Han sensed an ominous cracking sound coming from the sword during the exchange.

‘The weapon…!’

There was a crack in the blade of the short sword.

Only then did he realize what the opponent was aiming for.

The opponent was superior in both magical power and weapon quality.

‘It’s over if the sword breaks.’

Jang Han glanced at Yang Seo-dan and the remaining three escort warriors.

He was sure.

Those mediocre guys can’t stop this man.

‘I’ll end it before the weapon gives out.’

Jang Han’s eyes darkened.

Thump!

The moment he swung a large blow, the distance between him and his opponent widened.

And the moment the distance widened, Jang Han poured all the magical power in his body into the short sword.

Kiiiiing!

The magical power formed on Jang Han’s short sword became even thicker, as if adding another layer.

‘Thousand Slaughtering Blades. Form 1.’

Jang Han, who had prepared the secret technique of his sect, took a step forward.

And.

The moment I saw it, I felt a chilling sensation.

I could tell that the opponent had a hidden card without even asking.

‘A monster. Where did such a person come from?’

An opponent I was experiencing for the first time.

Was there someone like this around my age?

But this was not the time to worry about such things.

It was not the time to save power.

I immediately wrapped Black Night in aura.

Limitless Eclipse, Exorcism.

Both Lee Cheol and Jang Han stepped forward.

Clang!

In that moment, the light of aura erased all the colors in the room.

* * *

“Cough!”

Jang Han coughed up blood and knelt down.

Clang!

The broken short sword rolled to the ground.

‘I lost.’

Jang Han bit his lip as he checked his broken short sword and the surging magical power.

‘A monster. How is this even possible….’

Every day.

He had swung his sword ten thousand times, desperately recalling the stench of the Nine Dragons Union’s garbage dump, but he couldn’t reach his opponent.

He didn’t even have the余裕 [leeway/composure] to check on his opponent because of the severe internal injuries.

But the opponent was still standing tall, with his sword lowered.

It was a complete defeat.

‘…Shocking.’

Meanwhile, I was not in as normal a state as Jang Han thought.

I had blocked the direct damage with Black Night, but the murderous magical power had stirred up my magical power system, and I felt like I was about to collapse at any moment.

‘If it weren’t for the Soongmoo Yi family’s body… I would have collapsed too.’

I suppressed the surging magical power and looked down at the young man.

I had been running like crazy all this time.

I thought I was making some progress.

But was that just arrogance?

I looked down at the young man and asked.

“What’s your name?”

Jang Han, despite the aftereffects of the surging internal injuries, answered the voice as if possessed.

“Jang Han.”

“…Jang Han.”

I repeated the name softly.

Jang Han. Short sword. Murderous martial arts.

I recalled a person with those characteristics from my past life’s memories.

‘Could it be that Jang Han… no, it’s definitely him.’

Thousand Slaughtering Blades, Jang Han.

The successor of the Thousand Slaughtering Blades, a secret assassin sect.

The young assassin of the Nine Dragons Union who will rise to become the next leader of the Nine Dragons Union in the near future.

At that time.

“W-what the…”

Yang Seo-dan muttered in a trembling voice.

He was a martial artist in name, so he could tell how great the battle that had just taken place was.

‘I thought he was just a lowly assassin, but he was that strong?’

Yang Seo-dan was surprised by Jang Han’s strength and felt fear towards me, who had subdued him.

The whole situation had been reversed.

Yang Seo-dan trembled and looked at me.

I turned towards Yang Seo-dan.

Clap!

In that moment, the tense atmosphere was broken by the sound of Jeong Jin-soo’s clapping.

“Let’s stop here.”

At Jeong Jin-soo’s words, Yang Seo-dan’s gaze turned to Jeong Jin-soo.

“This situation happened by chance, but we had no intention of harming you. It’s a somewhat unfortunate situation.”

Jeong Jin-soo’s words were as polite as before, but Yang Seo-dan even felt a threat.

‘Oh.’

I saw a glimpse of Snow Sword from my past life in his ability to control the situation with just a few words.

“But since this has happened, we will withdraw for now. There must be a commotion outside because of the explosion, but I trust you will handle it well. I will visit you again in the near future.”

“…D-do that.”

“Can I assume that we will be able to have a real conversation then?”

Yang Seo-dan couldn’t refuse and nodded.

Jeong Jin-soo walked out of the room with a strange smile.

I glanced at Yang Seo-dan and turned my gaze to Jang Han.

“……”

Jang Han staggered to his feet and met my gaze.

I watched him for a moment and followed Jeong Jin-soo.

* * *

As a matter of course, the hotel was in chaos.

As soon as he got out of the hotel, Jeong Jin-soo hurriedly checked on me first.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’ve suffered some internal injuries, but they’re injuries that will heal quickly.”

“Just in case, I’ve assessed the situation. There were still three more guards left after the battle, so…”

“You intervened well. If it had gone on any longer, the situation would have become complicated.”

I had internal injuries, but it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t subdue those three guards.

But if Yang Seo-dan had not understood the situation and made those guards rush at me, we would not have been able to have a conversation in the future.

“He’s more reckless than I imagined. That Yang Seo-dan.”

Jeong Jin-soo said with a deep sigh.

“To think that such a person is the next elder…”

“It might be better this way.”

Jeong Jin-soo’s eyes widened.

But soon, he understood the meaning of my words.

“That’s right. Rather, we have seized the reins of the situation.”

Jeong Jin-soo said to me as he took the wheel in the parking lot.

I glanced at the chaotic scenery of the hotel and took a long breath.