The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 181

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – Episode 181

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully Chapter 181

Elixir Crafting (2)

The azure mist was a unique environment that disrupted a person’s senses.

It was impossible to navigate without a diver to guide the way and pinpoint directions accurately within the mist.

Even in the azure mist, Yoo Seong-woo could accurately determine his direction using his internal compass, ensuring he didn’t get lost.

His heightened senses, gained from becoming a Swordmaster, detected the presence of an ‘enemy’ within the azure mist.

One person in the mist.

Sensing that he was being watched, Yoo Seong-woo narrowed his eyes and strode forward without hesitation.

The figure, aware of being spotted, quickly began to distance himself, but Yoo Seong-woo smirked and muttered,

“You think you can escape?”

It was commendable that he hadn’t been detected until now, but escaping after being discovered was impossible.

Yoo Seong-woo stomped on the ground and shot forward.

His figure stretched out long in the mist, reaching the enemy’s location in an instant.

He grabbed the fleeing figure by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

“Cough!”

“Hmph.”

Yoo Seong-woo examined the face of the person he had slammed down.

It was a face he had never seen before.

A small build with green eyes visible outside the mask.

As Yoo Seong-woo scrutinized the face, he frowned deeply.

The contours of the captured figure’s face were strange.

The area where the nose should have been was flat, and an eerie power emanated from him.

“He has no nose.”

Whether it had rotted away or been cut off, it was not something a sane person would do.

The figure, held captive by Yoo Seong-woo, spewed venom in all directions.

Like a stink bug struggling, he thrashed and shook his green eyes.

The venom spread, killing the surrounding vegetation.

It was so potent that it melted the ground and killed the grass and trees.

Yoo Seong-woo frowned, realizing the rapidly changing environment.

Soon, the venom poured down, threatening to kill him. An ordinary person would have already melted into a pulp, but Yoo Seong-woo was a Swordmaster.

His body, tempered in many ways over a long time, easily repelled the venom.

When the venom proved ineffective, the figure with the constricted neck spat out hidden weapons from within his mask, but even those could not penetrate Yoo Seong-woo’s skin.

With his last resort failing, he mumbled something and bit down on the poison sac in his teeth, committing suicide.

Yoo Seong-woo didn’t bother to stop him. There were plenty more to question in this forest besides this one.

In the mist filled with venom, he slowly rose and muttered,

“Poison, huh? Bad choice.”

How many years had it been since poison stopped working on him?

Yoo Seong-woo smirked and once again expanded his senses widely.

But this time, it was different.

He changed his search target based on the energy of the one he had just defeated.

Previously, his goal was to find the foreign energy hidden in the mist, but now he focused on a specific energy signature.

Therefore, the accuracy naturally increased.

“…Hmm.”

He didn’t know who sent them yet, but they had prepared meticulously.

He stomped on the ground again with great force.

This time, the ground caved in with a loud crash, and trees were uprooted and scattered.

He charged straight ahead, destroying everything in his path, and reached out his hand.

At the end of the path he reached, another neck was seized.

“The same kind of guy as before.”

No nose, spewing venom.

But this time, he didn’t let it happen. He immediately reached out with his other hand, extracted the poison sac and hidden weapons from the figure’s mouth, and controlled the flow of venom with his aura [a Swordsmaster’s life force].

Having completely blocked the venom, Yoo Seong-woo twisted the figure’s neck and asked,

“Where is Hetris?”

“Uwoaaaaaaaah!!”

No proper answer came back. The figure simply thrashed and flailed, trying to escape from his grasp.

Only then did Yoo Seong-woo realize that these assassins were thoroughly trained by someone.

And the one they were trying to assassinate was definitely him.

‘The way they use their bodies isn’t raw; there’s a certain flow to it.’

Even now, they seemed to be flailing randomly, but there was a method to their madness.

Yoo Seong-woo thought of one possibility from that form.

‘The Murim Alliance [a coalition of martial arts clans]?’

He didn’t know much about martial arts. But when he went to China to rescue the alchemists last time, he had glimpsed the martial arts of the Murim people.

The form of the figure’s attacks was very similar to that.

Yoo Seong-woo simply broke all the figure’s limbs and looked into his green eyes.

‘The color of the eyes also seems to be artificially created. Is it because of the intense venom?’

He couldn’t even speak properly.

All he could do was emit venom, use hidden weapon techniques, and perform unremarkable martial arts.

Frowning again, he broke the figure’s neck and tossed him aside, then turned his head.

“Judging by the flow heading your way, you must be the commander. Unlike the others, you can probably speak, right?”

“Of course.”

Yoo Seong-woo smiled slightly at the first response and drew Ilsaeng [his sword] in one hand.

“I clearly said that if you spoke, I would come to kill you, but it seems you couldn’t resist blabbing. The Murim Alliance even sent assassins…”

What was his name again?

Yoo Seong-woo killed three S-class divers from the Murim Alliance in China and warned the last diver he encountered.

He told him not to breathe a word about what he had seen that day.

If the information leaked, he would find him and kill him no matter what.

But seeing that the Murim Alliance had sent assassins, it seemed they had told everything.

‘It might not be the Murim Alliance, but…’

It would be disappointing if it wasn’t the Murim Alliance.

The venom they used was also a rare type, so if he rescued the captured Hetris and asked her, it would be even more certain.

He lightly twirled Ilsaeng in his hand and continued,

“If you obediently release the one you captured and apologize, I’ll let you live. This is my last warning.”

“…Do you think you’re in a position to negotiate? If you lay a hand on me, I won’t hesitate to kill the hostage. Drop your sword and step back.”

“You think you’re in a position to threaten me?”

The masked figure sensed something was off at Yoo Seong-woo’s words.

He was clearly holding the hostage, but why was the other side threatening him?

Yoo Seong-woo said,

“Kill her then. But if you kill her, you will die for sure, and everyone behind you will be killed. I won’t leave a single one alive.”

The ferocious energy emanating from Yoo Seong-woo made it clear that it was not a lie but the truth. Instead of suppressing his energy, he amplified it, dyeing the mist crimson, ready to strike at any moment.

The masked figure trembled at the intense aura flowing from him.

It wasn’t fear he was feeling.

The fear that had been surgically removed couldn’t possibly surface, so the trembling was definitely…

Something more primal than fear.

It was something that couldn’t be erased by physical procedures, a racial instinct.

That was what was rising from Yoo Seong-woo.

“You don’t know your place. And you’re foolish. If you wanted to kill me, you should have faced me head-on instead of this pathetic hostage situation.”

Though either way, you wouldn’t have had a chance.

Yoo Seong-woo muttered quietly and swung his sword mightily.

Several people hidden in the mist fell, scattering blood, from his seemingly casual strike.

The sword reached from an impossible distance. The masked figure, enraged by the Swordmaster’s transcendent attack, shouted,

“Kill him!”

At the masked figure’s loud cry, the number of presences felt from all directions increased exponentially.

Each of them emitted deadly venom, engulfing the earth.

Their individual strength was considerable, and they rushed towards Yoo Seong-woo with terrifying speed.

‘Each one is at least A-class level.’

Yoo Seong-woo couldn’t help but frown even more as he examined the faces of those surrounding him.

Judging by their physiques, they were all children.

They couldn’t have been older than twenty.

The genders were mixed, and their builds were distinctly different.

‘An assassination squad created by taking in parentless orphans?’

Or maybe they were kidnapped.

The one who created them clearly wanted these young assassins to be used as expendable tools.

That’s why they cut off unnecessary organs and thoroughly implanted defense mechanisms to make them commit suicide when their lives were threatened.

As the thought occurred to him, Yoo Seong-woo felt his grip on Ilsaeng tighten.

He felt a sense of futility at the fact that there were always people who committed such insane acts in any world.

At the same time, he felt relieved.

“Consider it fortunate that you met me. I’ll quickly end your miserable lives.”

The minds and bodies manipulated by the will of others don’t last long.

They had transformed their bodies so full of venom, there was no way there wouldn’t be any side effects.

The venom would gnaw at their insides and torment them until the moment their breath was cut off.

In that case, it would be better to…

“Hoo.”

Yoo Seong-woo took a short breath and spun violently.

He pivoted on his left foot, extending Ilsaeng and moving counterclockwise.

At the same time, the shockwave that was emitted pushed away the mist, creating a fierce storm.

None of the venom they spewed touched him, and only the storm of strikes created by Yoo Seong-woo reversed the flow of the atmosphere and spread in all directions.

The masked figures’ surprise attack was perfectly timed, but no matter how perfect it was.

Having allowed even the smallest gap, they could not escape the Swordmaster’s counterattack.

Those who tried to attack Yoo Seong-woo were instead attacked and scattered blood.

The masked figures, scattering without even screaming, had their breath cut off without even feeling pain.

After completing one rotation, Yoo Seong-woo shook the blood off his sword and said,

“Keeping one alive who can talk should be enough.”

Perhaps changing their strategy at his words, the remaining figures disappeared into the mist.

But Yoo Seong-woo had already placed their presences within his awareness.

Even if they hid now, it meant they couldn’t escape.

Taking another short breath, his figure disappeared from its spot.

The three-dimensional maneuverability displayed through the Swordmaster’s body was not at a level that could be followed with the eyes.

And the resulting outcome was not something that could be stopped.

Blood was scattered here and there without screams.

The venom-laced blood killed the vegetation and brought death, but that death never reached Yoo Seong-woo.

The masked figure who had been giving orders was about to give another command when he was killed one by one in the mist.

As if there was no other choice, he raised his hand, and the unconscious Hetris soared up from the shadows.

The masked figure brought a venom-filled dagger to her neck and shouted,

“Stop! Stop before I kill this woman!”

“So you were nearby after all.”