The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 182

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – 182

Elixir Crafting (3)

A voice rang out from directly behind the masked figure.

Simultaneously, the masked man’s poisoned hand was severed and flew into the air.

Since Hetris wasn’t visible, Yoosungwoo, assuming she was nearby, deliberately cornered the masked man.

Wasn’t a sense of crisis necessary to turn a vague hostage situation into a definite one?

He maneuvered the situation to make them think they couldn’t shake him unless they threatened Hetris’s life where he could see her.

Having resolved the situation as he intended, Yoosungwoo slightly raised the corner of his mouth and snatched Hetris from the masked man’s grasp.

With Hetris slung over his shoulder, he fixed his gaze on the man and spoke.

“What are you going to do now?”

He tried to take a hostage, but the hostage was taken away.

All that’s left is suicide, or begging for his life.

The masked man, whose severed wrist was dripping with greenish blood, said.

“If I lost one hostage, I just need to grab another. Do you think everyone is here?”

“Hmm.”

He frowned and said.

“It seems they sent those guys to the others as well. Each of them is on par with A-rank divers, so they are quite a force. But, I don’t remember raising you guys to be defeated so easily.”

He didn’t train them this far just to see them defeated by such opponents.

‘…Will they be okay?’

Still, he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

***

The divers, who had gathered in one place and waited in formation as Yoosungwoo instructed, ended up facing a group of assassins instead of Abyss monsters.

Assassins who emerged silently from the fog, scattering poison.

Because they had set up a formation in advance, they were able to react quickly.

If they had faced them without any preparation, casualties would have certainly occurred.

“These guys are fast!”

“But it’s not beyond our ability to handle!”

As they were prepared in advance, their response was also quick.

Realizing that the enemies were using poison, they immediately injected Hetris’s special antidote into their necks, repelling the poison with sword winds and magic as they continued the battle.

Since the response method had already been established, it wasn’t difficult to gain the upper hand.

Moreover, the assassins who attacked them were specialized in short-term battles, pursuing extreme efficiency, so they couldn’t even change tactics without a commander.

The Sword Soul divers, who effortlessly defeated the enemies, distanced themselves from the poison-filled bodies and assessed the situation.

“I guess this has something to do with Hetris-ssi [honorific title] disappearing, right?”

“It probably does. We have no choice but to wait for Master here. If we move rashly in the fog, we’ll be scattered.”

Yoo Jiju and Baek Woo-hyun, who had extensive experience in Abyss exploration, made a decision immediately, and the others followed their lead.

Although they were ambushed, they couldn’t move their position.

They didn’t have a guide who could accurately pinpoint the direction in the fog.

Yoosungwoo’s instruction was to hold their ground.

They moved only as far as they were not affected by the poison and waited for Yoosungwoo, remaining on guard.

And how long had it been?

A figure quickly emerged from the fog and spoke.

“As expected. You handled it well.”

He casually tossed Hetris down and looked around before continuing.

“It seems like you can handle your own now. When I first started teaching you, I was worried about how to make you useful.”

“…Can’t you just praise us for doing well? Do you have to add that one extra comment?”

Yoosungwoo lightly nodded and tossed down what he was carrying on his other side.

A masked man with both arms cut off, his whole body tightly bound with a reddish aura.

He was the only one who could speak, the one who gave orders to the other masked men.

“We’re returning for now. The attack is off, and we’ll interrogate him about who sent them. Kali and Bathory’s abilities should be enough.”

Yoosungwoo said, slightly raising the corner of his mouth.

“…Whoever sent them, I hope it aligns with the purpose of what we’re trying to do.”

***

One red flower, blooming with five petals, withered instantly.

The connection with the assassin dispatched to Korea for the assassination was severed.

Either they were dead, or they were blocked by magical means.

The woman, who cut off the withered flower with small scissors, closed her eyes.

“The Poison Flower is dead. Hmm, was it too much to expect to kill him with just one unit? I thought there was some potential.”

The woman, who placed the withered flower on her palm and observed its shape, clenched her fist tightly and crushed it.

The petals scattered into powder.

She blew it away in the wind, then turned and looked out the window.

Numerous skyscrapers filled the city, a luxury only afforded to the city where the Murim Alliance [Martial Arts Alliance] was located.

The neon-lit streets, unsuitable for those who had accepted the martial arts of the old world, were filled with bustle.

In present-day China, divided into dozens of countries, the headquarters of the Murim Alliance boasts the most powerful force.

It was no different from a fortress.

A large fortress completed by gathering the five clans, nine sects, and Ilbang [a type of martial arts organization] that have been passed down from martial arts novels.

Based on the resources from the Abyss rifts, where monsters constantly poured out, the Murim Alliance’s main base was still expanding its territory.

The name of their fortress, bound under the sky, was:

The Heavenly Alliance Fortress (天盟城砦).

The woman was the one who led the assassination unit directly under the Murim Alliance Lord in that Heavenly Alliance Fortress.

The darkest blade of the Murim Alliance.

Dang Young-jeop, the hidden poison of the Sichuan Dang Clan and an S-class diver herself, lowered the blinds of the window and muttered.

“Seeing that they defeated the Poison Flower unit, which can assassinate even masters of Hwagyeong [a high level of martial arts mastery], the child’s statement that he single-handedly killed three masters of Hwagyeong without injury and escaped leisurely… must not be a lie.”

The daughter of the Zhuge Clan, who was once a military strategist for the Murim Alliance but is now imprisoned in the underground dungeon.

The clever trickery she used to deceive the Murim Alliance has already been exposed, so all that remains is a painful death.

The Zhuge Clan will strongly protest, but what can be done?

She was a traitor who tried to deceive the entire Murim Alliance.

Rather, they should be grateful that the clan is not being exterminated.

Dang Young-jeop looked at the many remaining colorful flowers and smiled softly.

“Let’s see how far you can last. Even if you have surpassed Hwagyeong, you are still human in the end.”

***

“Wow, this is potent. You still won’t talk?! Still?!”

“Kuaaaaaaak-!!”

The interrogation of the captured masked man was entrusted to Kali and Bathory.

Bathory was in charge of torture using blood flow manipulation, and Kali was in charge of neutralizing the masked man’s poison and manufacturing various drugs, including truth serums.

Bathory said with a face full of smiles.

“I wanted to relieve some stress, so this is perfect!”

“Don’t forget that we need to extract information, Bathory.”

“Of course, I know that~! So, what should we try next…….”

“Why don’t we just massage his brain with magic?”

“We should do that last. It would be a shame to send such fresh ingredients to the climax already.”

Various bodily fluids flowed from the face of the masked man, who was bound and unable to move between the two girls who were having a terrifying conversation.

The dripping fluids slowly melted the floor.

Kali administered a neutralizing agent, and the poison that he couldn’t overcome was slowly leaving his body.

The poison inside the masked man was acting as a kind of seal, so this was the process of releasing the seal.

Bathory, looking at the masked man dripping with bodily fluids, said.

“You said this might be related to the Murim Alliance. Then we might be able to see her face after a long time?”

“Her?”

“Don’t you remember? That monster who used to cause trouble in China.”

“Ah.”

At Bathory’s words, Kali nodded a few times as if she remembered who she was talking about.

“If that crazy girl is still in China, that is. It feels like it’s been over a hundred years since I’ve seen her.”

“She’s not a monster that will die easily. Now that her power has become stronger with the connection to the divine, she’s definitely holed up somewhere in China, waiting for a chance, right?”

“Considering her personality, that’s probably the case. But shouldn’t we tell him this too? To be careful.”

“Hmm, I don’t think we need to… There aren’t any traces of her being discovered right now.”

“Don’t you think that your personality is what created this situation? A lifelong vow to humanity, really.”

At Kali’s words, Bathory was momentarily speechless.

Was Kali someone who could say such things?

She thought she was just a witch who had no interest in worldly affairs, but now she’s even worrying about others.

When Bathory looked at her with tearful eyes, Kali frowned in disgust.

“…I’ll just give him a hint. I don’t want to die again this time because I didn’t say anything.”

Bathory smiled faintly and snapped her fingers.

Then, sharp needles made of blood were created around her, all aimed at the masked man.

“So, where were we? Let’s start having fun again.”

***

“The place I went to last time was the outer area of the Heavenly Alliance Fortress.”

After a harsh interrogation using torture and truth serums, the name ‘Murim Alliance’ came out of the masked man’s mouth.

In addition to that, even what group they belonged to.

The Green Hand (綠手) unit, composed only of poison people (毒人), belonging to the Dark Light (暗明) assassination squad directly under the Murim Alliance Lord.

The masked man was being called by the codename Poison Flower (毒花), who leads the Green Hand unit.

And as Yoosungwoo expected, the assassination squad was a place where orphans without parents were gathered and thoroughly trained as assassins.

A den of guys who use people like consumables.

“Every powerful person has a separate pocket, but this is one of the worst.”

He looked at the map of the Heavenly Alliance Fortress that Yoo-wol had procured.

The Heavenly Alliance Fortress had a form reminiscent of Kowloon Walled City in China [a densely populated, ungoverned settlement].

It was an even larger city, but it created a closed landscape with large buildings.

“And a caste system? What is this now…….”

Yoosungwoo, who was reading the data that Yoo-wol had brought, smirked as if he was dumbfounded.

The Heavenly Alliance Fortress was a place ruled by five clans, nine sects, and the Beggars’ Union.

They claimed to have inherited the traditions of those who appeared in martial arts novels, and they divided the areas of the Heavenly Alliance Fortress by asserting their authority.

The central area, the Heaven (天) District.

It is where the main bases of the five major clans and nine sects, which are the pillars of the Murim Alliance, are located, and even those whose identities are not confirmed are denied entry.

Surrounding the Heaven District is the Earth (地) District.

The residential area for A-rank or B-rank divers, those whom they call masters or supreme masters.

And finally, the Sea (海) District, which boasts the largest size, was the land of ordinary workers.

The hygiene and security are the worst, and it is a land of the law of the jungle, where only the strong survive, where you have no choice but to bite others to survive.

And it was also the place where Yoosungwoo first set foot to save the researchers.

He licked his lips and muttered.

“…Breaking down walls is always fun.”

Originally, the world should be lived in equally.

Without relying on childish and pathetic things like walls.