novelraw Chapter 150 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (23)
Chapter 150 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (23)
A few moments earlier.
Cheongnyangni Gate, main sewer entrance.
Jae-hee and Chevalier were locked in a brutal cycle, clashing and recoiling over and over again.
Lightning struck.
A gale raged.
It was the inevitable result of two AA-Rank Awakened unleashing their abilities.
Chevalier’s ability was Lightning. With perfect control over the bolts he generated, he could move at unbelievable speed despite his massive frame. He could also imbue his sword with the power of the storm.
Jae-hee’s ability was Gale. He didn’t know how to sheathe his blade in wind like Chevalier, but he could become one with the wind itself, achieving a speed that defied common sense.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Jae-hee was pressing a one-sided assault. He whipped around Chevalier in a terrifying whirlwind, raining down a storm of sword strikes.
Chevalier was entirely on the defensive, barely managing to hold on.
To a casual observer, it looked like Jae-hee had the upper hand, but the reality was different.
At this rate, I’ll be completely drained in no time!
Jae-hee suffered from a chronic lack of endurance. Just maintaining this velocity was burning through his stamina at an alarming rate.
Chevalier, on the other hand, was slower than a true speedster like Jae-hee, but he was still a high-speed combatant in his own right. Moreover, his thick plate armor and greatsword allowed for an incredibly efficient defense.
It was obvious that if Jae-hee couldn’t land a decisive blow, Chevalier would win the battle of attrition.
I have to settle this now, while I still have the energy to control my speed!
And so, Jae-hee decided to gamble.
Suddenly, his speed dropped noticeably.
“Haa, haa, haa…!”
Eyes half-closed in exhaustion, he began to pant, his breathing ragged and exhausted.
Chevalier looked puzzled, but he wasn’t about to let Jae-hee stand there floundering.
The moment he confirmed the Boy’s speed had flagged, he seized the opening and swung his greatsword.
Just then, Jae-hee’s eyes flashed open as he snapped back into his stance.
“I was just pretending… to be slow!”
Fwoosh!
Gathering what strength he had left, Jae-hee exploded forward, instantly flanking Chevalier.
“And I was pretending to be fooled.”
But Chevalier responded with fluid grace, turning to meet the charge with a greatsword counter.
“And I’ll counter that… with a shortsword launch!”
Jae-hee whipped out his shortsword launcher.
Bang!
The shortsword he fired—Mountain Child—was also a piece of Gate Gear.
Sensing the danger, Chevalier had no choice but to parry it with his greatsword.
But deflecting the shortsword left his front wide open.
“...!”
Jae-hee pushed into a full-on sprint. Trailing a sharp blue afterimage, he reached his absolute limit and swung his longsword with all his might.
Chevalier tried to assume a defensive posture, but it wasn’t perfect.
Screeeech!
The blow landed.
“Tch…!”
But despite his success, Jae-hee clicked his tongue in frustration. He hadn’t managed to neutralize his opponent.
“...”
The moment the blade had struck, Chevalier had twisted his body, adjusting the angle of his armor. Jae-hee’s sword scraped across his chest, sending sparks flying as it sundered the breastplate.
Chevalier touched the ruined plate with a gauntleted hand and stated flatly, “Your sword is light.”
“...?”
“Had you been more desperate, more determined… if your will to kill me had been absolute, that last strike would have taken my life.”
Chevalier stared at Jae-hee from within his helm. “But it wasn’t. Your sword is far too light.”
“Uh… well, it is a pretty light sword, right? It’s made of bone.”
“It’s not about physical weight.”
Chevalier gave his greatsword a twirl before planting it in the ground.
“The conviction in your blade. The justice… the people and the world you fight to protect… I don’t feel any of that from your sword. That’s why it’s light.”
“Whoa, you can feel all that just from crossing swords…?”
“When blades meet, the hearts of the wielders are laid bare.”
As Jae-hee looked on, bewildered, Status Window raised a hand from behind him. “That was some real otaku-level dialogue just now desu.”
A cold sweat trickled down Jae-hee’s back. “You’re the last person who should be saying that…”
Chevalier paid them no mind and continued.
“A sword only gains weight when there is something to protect, something to achieve. Only then does it transcend being a simple weapon of murder and become a means of imposing one’s will upon the world.”
“Is… that so?”
“That is why you are not yet a swordsman. You’re just a brat being swung around by his sword, not the other way around.”
Chevalier reset his stance. “It seems you’re truly out of tricks. I will end this now.”
He kicked off the ground and flew toward Jae-hee.
Having exhausted all his options, he gritted his teeth, his mind racing desperately. What do I do now?
Suddenly.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
As if an earthquake had struck, the entire area began to shake violently. The floor of the building, unable to withstand the tremor, collapsed, splitting open like the maw of hell.
And, of all people, Chevalier was standing right on top of it.
“...?”
The very patch of ground he had landed on had crumbled away with perfect timing.
“Uh?”
With a grunt of disbelief, Chevalier plunged into the chasm... down into the pitch-black swamp of corruption that churned below.
But just before he fell completely, a hand shot out like the wind and seized his arm.
Chevalier looked up in a daze and found Jae-hee, visibly straining to hold him.
“H-hurry up and climb!” Jae-hee yelled, his face flushed crimson as he struggled to hold on to Chevalier’s arm with both hands. “Whoa, this guy is heavy as hell! Snap out of it and get up here! Quick…!”
“Why…” Chevalier asked, utterly dumbfounded. “Why are you saving me? If you had just let me fall…”
“I get the Credits for subduing you whether you’re dead or alive!”
“What?”
“So it’s better to keep you alive! We’re gonna be cellmates anyway, so if I put you in my debt, you’ll have to take my side at least once, won’t you? Right?!”
Rumble-rumble-rumble—
Jae-hee strained against the collapsing underground, yelling, “You say my sword is light? Of course it is! I have no idea what I’m supposed to fill it with. Life, the world, any of that crap! How do you even do that?!”
“...”
“I know the world is ending, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it! Hell, I don’t even know if I can do anything!”
The Boy had simply been born into a world that was already broken. He had only ever struggled day by day to survive in a world gone mad.
“All I want is to eat something good today and laugh and talk with the people I like.”
“...”
“I don’t know how I ended up here doing this, but that’s the honest truth.”
Chevalier stared blankly into the Boy’s wide, round eyes.
Then he muttered, “The day will come when you regret that.”
“I’ll worry about that when it happens.” Jae-hee glanced over his shoulder and yelled, “Somebody help me! I told you this guy is heavy as hell!”
Grumbling, the other convicts came over and lent a hand.
“Seriously, just let him drop…”
“He was just kicking our asses, and you’re saving him?”
“Let’s pull on three. One, two…!”
In the end, the giant knight—who, with his armor, had to weigh nearly 450 pounds—was hauled out of the pit.
“...”
Using his greatsword like a cane, Chevalier pushed himself to his feet and flinched as he took in the convicts surrounding him.
He seemed torn between the instinct to fight and the awareness that it would be poor form after they had just saved him. The other convicts flinched, too, debating whether they should just dogpile him.
It was Jae-hee who broke the standoff. “Looks like something’s gone wrong upstairs! We should get up there!”
“...”
“I’m worried about my master. I need to go see what’s happening. You, too, right?”
“...Yes.” With a long sigh, Chevalier slowly sheathed his greatsword on his back. “My fathers… I am worried about them.”
“Then let’s call a temporary truce! We can finish our little duel later. Let’s go together!”
The convicts all looked like they had plenty to say, but when the ground shook again with a terrifying groan, they scrambled up the stairs to the next floor.
Bringing up the rear with Chevalier, Jae-hee held out his hand. “I’m Jae-hee! Callsign, ‘Boy’! Call me whichever you prefer!”
“...Min-seong Kang. Hunter name, ‘Chevalier.’”
“Wow, your Hunter name kinda sounds like ‘shovel-ear.’ That’s weird.”
“...”
Razor glanced back at the two shaking hands and muttered, “What the hell is with his social skills? How do you go from a death match to a handshake just like that?”
Jae-hee beamed. “You know what they say, right? ‘When blades meet, the hearts of the wielders are laid bare,’ or something?”
The Status Window just shook its head. “You sound like such an otaku when you talk desu…”
“Are you seriously the one saying that?”
***
The Demon Lord soared from the valley of corruption carved between the domains of Ghost and Iron Knight.
“Wouldn’t want you two having all the fun.”
Deyana Ludens smiled.
“Let me join in.”
The pristine plain of ice, the clear sea, and the fine sand were all swallowed by a wave of filth.
The Demon Lord’s terraforming had begun. In an instant, a horrific aura of decay began to spread in all directions.
Iron Knight cried out urgently, “Ghost! This is no time for us to be fighting! That monster first…!”
But Ghost’s gaze remained fixed on Iron Knight. “That monster is a job for the New Five Heroes. It has nothing to do with me.”
“If the Demon Lord’s corruption spreads, who knows what kind of catastrophe will hit Seoul! Ghost, please!”
“You’re the one who needs to get a grip, Iron Knight.” Ghost let out a small sigh. “You’re a terrorist now. You’re already a monster.”
“...”
“Why are you still acting like a hero? Why are you still so desperate to protect the world?”
Surveying her own field of ice as it was instantly stained black, Ghost murmured dispassionately, “This world ended a long time ago. It’s been insane for a while now. It’s a selfish world that’s only survived by feeding on one sacrifice after another.”
“...”
“The Savior… Seong-ah’s sacrifice barely staved off annihilation. And since then, this hell has only held together by burning the corpses of old soldiers like us for fuel.”
Ghost gestured with her chin toward the outside world, a sneer on her face. “Look at it now. Even as that Demon Lord is resurrected, the higher-ups out there are still clicking their abacuses, running the numbers.”
“...”
“They’re probably racking their brains trying to figure out how to safely hand the title of ‘Demon Lord Slayer’ to the New Five Heroes without them suffering a single loss.”
The New Five Heroes, the ordained guardians of a new era.
The powers-that-be had to ensure the ultimate crown was placed safely on their heads. In fact, that was precisely why they were still deliberating on the perfect moment to deploy them.
“Most of all, they made you and me fight. Knowing we were the closest of friends, they made two old soldiers who’d saved the world kill each other.”
“...”
“This world is insane anyway. Maybe my world already ended thirty years ago, on that day.”
Her world had ended the moment she sacrificed her most precious person to save it. The moment this grotesquely twisted world began its endless search for the next victim.
Perhaps, in that instant, her world had already met its end.
“Rather than let this hell continue, it might be better…” Ghost offered Iron Knight a bitter smile. “...if it all just ended right now, don’t you think?”
“...”
The corruption spread across Iron Knight’s summer sea. Black, tar-like decay covered the water and began to devour the sandy shore.
It was then.
“Master!”
Whoosh…
A single, refreshing breeze blew in from behind them. It came from the opposite direction of the corrupted shore, from far across the empty ruins.
“Maaasteeer~!”
“...?”
Turning her head in puzzlement, Ghost finally saw him. The wide-eyed Boy scrambling over the debris of the ruins, running toward them.
“...Kid.”
“Are you okay?!”
Spotting Chevalier running behind him, Iron Knight called out urgently, “Vice-Commander! Are you unharmed?”
“...Yes, Commander.” Chevalier looked as if he had something to say, but he swallowed it down, bowed his head, and replied, “I am unharmed.”
“Master!” Jae-hee suddenly shouted. “I’m hungry!”
Ghost’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What?”
“When this mission is over, let’s ask the commander for another outing permit! After all this trouble, she has to give us one! Then let’s all go out to eat! To that one place… the best restaurant in all of Seoul!”
As Jae-hee chattered on, Ghost found herself starting to smile despite everything.
“Let’s go to Kimbap Heaven again!”