The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 421

258. The Great Jungle, Adur (2)

“Drive them! Drive them towards the wall!”

A boisterous shout rang out.

As they reached the jungle’s edge, the red scales ceased their pursuit. Carryl watched them stop, then ventured into the dense foliage.

After a short walk, Carryl paused, as if anticipating something.

[Karrrk! Kaaaak!!]

A piercing roar echoed through the trees.

A Shaberiger, cornered, found itself with nowhere to retreat. It bared its gleaming fangs, wary of the approaching figures.

Classified as an A-grade monster, typically found in designated monster zones, here it was merely another prey animal roaming the wild.

The only places where one might encounter A-grade monsters like this, aside from the Promised Land, were here in the Great Jungle. However, the Promised Land was uninhabited, making a direct comparison difficult.

‘Moreover, a variant.’

Unlike the Shaberigers commonly found in the deserts or grasslands of monster zones, the Shaberigers of Adur possessed a distinct appearance.

Their fur, as tough as scales, gleamed exceptionally, and their ears fluttered like gills, making their classification as mammals questionable.

“Release the poison into the swamp! Trap it so it can’t escape!”

The man leading the group shouted. His significantly sturdier build set him apart from the others.

The chief of the Wildlings, Halkata.

Carryl recognized him by reputation, though Halkata likely didn’t know Carryl.

[Krrr…]

The Wildlings began pouring poison from large wooden barrels into the swamp where the variant Shaberiger stood.

Each time the poison touched the swamp, it sizzled and smoked. The Shaberiger flinched and retreated, but the Wildlings pressed on relentlessly.

Most of the plants in the Great Jungle are poisonous. The Wildlings, having consumed them since birth, possessed bodies nearly immune to all toxins.

In his past life, the Jannabi tribe [a tribe known for their mastery of poisons] had encountered them and remarked that it was the first time they had seen people immune to their poison.

“Its movements have stopped!”

The variant Shaberiger, forced to breathe through the gills on its head instead of its nose, suffered as the poisonous gas caused thick fluids to flow between its gills, making it writhe in agony.

“Everyone, hold your positions.”

Halkata, standing at the front, smacked his lips as he observed the creature. He flexed his thick fists, producing cracking sounds, and then charged.

Thwack—!!

A dull thud and the monster’s scream filled the air. Halkata’s fist had connected squarely with the Shaberiger’s head, knocking it backward.

Kugugugu……. Kuung!!

The cliff behind it crumbled from the impact, and debris rained down on the Shaberiger. Yet, even after being repeatedly crushed by the rocks, it shook its head, unfazed, and immediately charged again.

Swish-

As if anticipating the move, Halkata retrieved a flail wrapped in iron chains, worn in an X-shape across his chest, and swung it overhead.

Whooong-!!! Bang!!

With a roar that seemed to tear the air, the flail struck the Shaberiger’s belly with pinpoint accuracy. A crunching sound followed as a pure white bone pierced through the skin and protruded from its abdomen.

[Kereuk!! Kegegek……!!!]

The monster gasped in pain, and red blood poured from its gills like a waterfall.

It was a display of incredible physical prowess. Only individuals like Gordon Fabian and Hwa-rin possessed that level of raw strength.

“Now! Eat the liver and heart on the spot, and take only the flesh. Give the poisonous gallbladder to the children who have not yet reached adulthood. They need to build up their resistance to poison from now on.”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

At Halkata’s command, the Wildlings swarmed to butcher the fallen variant Shaberiger with practiced coordination.

“…….”

Carryl observed the Wildlings’ hunt.

They cornered their prey to prevent escape, and the strongest among them delivered the final blow.

Their hunting method was simple but efficient.

In the Great Jungle, where death lurked around every corner, group hunting could lead to the loss of many tribesmen, so they entrusted the task to a single, capable hunter.

Some might argue that the Wildlings’ hunting method was less efficient, but they had absolute faith in their chosen champion.

“Hurry up!”

A lithe-looking man standing next to Halkata shouted at the tribesmen.

[Kaaaak!!]

While the Shaberiger was being dismantled, a sharp roar suddenly erupted from within the forest.

“……Another one?!

The Wildlings scrambled to their feet as a black shadow of a Shaberiger loomed over them from behind the collapsed cliff.

“…….”

Carryl quietly watched the scene unfold.

The Wildlings, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the attacking monster, didn’t flee. It wasn’t out of fear.

They understood that panicking would only exacerbate the chaos. Instead, they braced themselves, becoming targets to restrict the monster’s movements and create an opening for Halkata to strike.

“They have guts.”

Just then.

Crack……!!

Carryl, who had been silently observing, appeared above the head of the rampaging Shaberiger and forcefully pressed down on it. Instead of a roar, a sickening sound of something breaking echoed through the air.

Thwack!! Crack—!!!!

The Shaberiger’s knees buckled under the sudden weight, and Carryl jumped down in front of its face.

Then, he struck the monster’s cheek once more with the broad side of his sword, snapping its head back.

“Ugh!!”

“Dodge, get out of the way!”

The Shaberiger, which had been charging toward the tribesmen, was sent flying, crashing onto the corpse of another Shaberiger buried under the rubble.

“…….”

“…….”

The Wildlings stared at Carryl’s sudden intervention with dumbfounded expressions.

“In one blow……?”

“No, more than that, why is an outsider……!!”

“Who are you!”

They shouted warily.

“Who am I? I thought this place was isolated from the outside world, but it seems you’re unaware of what’s happening beyond your borders.”

Carryl said, nonchalantly sitting on the severed head of the giant Shaberiger at his feet as if it were a chair. The Wildlings were speechless at the sight.

He hadn’t simply knocked the Shaberiger away.

They realized that the monster couldn’t withstand Carryl’s blow, and its head and body had been torn apart.

They had witnessed him strike with the flat of his sword, confirming that he hadn’t used the blade to cut it.

Buzzing-

Even their chief, Halkata, couldn’t tear apart the monster’s limbs with a single blow.

“What is it? You.”

Halkata knew that Carryl had deliberately struck the Shaberiger with the flat of his sword to demonstrate his strength.

[This is an interesting place. To think there are still places like this left…….]

Unlike the tense atmosphere, Lacias seemed more interested in the surroundings than in Halkata.

[To think that there is no spirit energy felt in this lush jungle. What’s going on?]

[Don’t you remember? There was one such place even in the Mythical Era.]

[A place where the breath of spirits is not felt……. I see, Etheral. You’re talking about that place.]

Lacias nodded in agreement.

[Surely he’s not here, is he?]

[Of course not. He was sealed after the Spirit War and returned to the Spirit Realm. There’s no way he’d be here.]

[But the area around him is a mess because the providence is all tangled up. Just like now. Besides, this is the Human Realm. If he’s here, the ecosystem will be destroyed in an instant.]

[Well……. Etheral, there’s some truth to what you say, but I don’t think Yula would have left him, whom she and Lacias hated so much, in the Human Realm.]

‘Who are they talking about?’

Carryl asked them, without taking his eyes off Halkata, at the unexpected conversation echoing in his head.

[The Thunder Lord. Kungen, the Spirit King of Lightning.]

“Hmm.”

Carryl pursed his lips slightly at Lacias’s answer. It was true that the twin swords, Thunderclap and Lightning, which were known to have sealed Kungen and passed down to Aidan, were newly created after the Magic Era.

That meant that the whereabouts of the Thunder Lord were currently unknown.

‘Certainly, the Great Jungle experiences a lot of thunder and lightning due to its humid climate……. But it’s hard to say that it’s necessarily caused by the Spirit King of Lightning.’

However, Carryl didn’t dismiss the suspicions raised by the Spirit Kings. If the Great Jungle was connected to Kungen, it could mean that he would find one of the remaining two Spirit Kings he needed to locate.

“This bastard……!! How dare you ignore…….”

Crack-

The lithe-looking Wildling who had been standing next to Halkata a moment ago collapsed forward.

“Cough……. Keuk.”

He buried his face in the swamp, struggling. The others stared at him with bewildered expressions at his sudden, strange behavior.

“……!!”

Surprisingly, he was struggling because both of his legs were completely broken, preventing him from standing.

“Don’t even think about interfering if you didn’t see my sword a moment ago.”

Carryl stepped forward, placing his foot on the head of the fallen man.

With just those words, Carryl silenced the Wildlings, who had been growling just moments before.

“You have to say it right. You broke it with your foot, not your sword.”

“But you’re useful as a chief. Then you know. That you can’t beat me.”

Halkata was growing increasingly dumbfounded.

“What are you doing, causing a commotion all the way here?”

“The owner of the continent. And the person who will be your master.”

“…….”

At Carryl’s words, the humid jungle air seemed to freeze with cold.

“I came to tame the beast.”

“Beast? You’re crazy. In the past, the emperor of the empire coveted this land, but in the end, he gave up on his own.”

Halkata scoffed.

“I know who you are. Carryl McGovern. I know you’re causing trouble on the continent, but the Wildlings won’t be swayed by you. Get lost.”

“Ah……. Is that so?”

Carryl slowly raised his head. Then he smiled at Halkata.

“I thought you really didn’t know me. But if you know, why are you acting this way?”

At his words, Halkata tilted his head, as if asking what he meant.

“If you know me, you should lower your head the moment you see me.”

Thwack-!!!

Carryl’s fist struck Halkata’s side with precision. The fist dug deep into the solid muscles.

“Keuha!!!”

Surprisingly, Halkata didn’t seem to feel any pain. Instead, he grabbed Carryl’s arm that had struck his side, turned behind him, hugged him, and bound Carryl with the iron chain of the flail he wore on his waist.

Crack……. Cracking…….

The sunken muscles in his side wriggled as if they were alive.

[It doesn’t even take 1 second for the broken ribs to heal? What kind of monster is that?]

Arhn Zavius said, dumbfounded, watching Halkata charge at him without paying attention to Carryl’s blow.

‘It’s the characteristic of the Wildlings. Poison doesn’t work, and their regeneration surpasses that of monsters.’

[Deryl was right. These guys aren’t humans; they’re beasts. There were no such freaks even in the Magic Era.]

‘Beasts…….’

Carryl smiled faintly at Arhn’s words.

“That guy doesn’t even qualify as a beast. At best, he’s just a big dog.”

[……What?]

Carryl pulled the chain tightening around his neck to both sides with all his might.

Clang!!

The chain snapped with a cheerful sound. At the same time, Carryl turned his body into his arms and lifted Halkata as if he were throwing him over his shoulder.

“……?!

Kwaaaaaang—!!

The water in the swamp splashed everywhere with a loud noise. The moment Halkata looked at Carryl with a dumbfounded expression, Carryl casually twisted his wrist.

“Keuak!!!”

With a cracking sound, his arm twisted grotesquely.

“Halkata.”

Carryl whispered as he slammed the giant to the ground.

“You seem to be misunderstanding. I’m not interested in you. I came to meet the real beast you have locked in your cage.”

“……What?”

“Anchar. Anchar Halun. No explanation needed. You know who he is better than anyone else.”

“…….”

The moment that name came out of Carryl’s mouth, the Wildlings began to buzz with agitation.