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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Sword energy, like crashing waves, surged toward Lee Rowoon.
“Uh…! No!”
Kang Cheol-woo shouted in shock. Lee Rowoon looked far too defenseless to block the attack—an attack unleashed by a martial master of the Hyeongyeong level.
A deadly slash, brimming with killing intent, came crashing toward Lee Rowoon’s body.
‘Seogeogeogeogeok!’
That was the sound that should have been heard.
Kaaang!
But instead of a gruesome deathly scream, a completely different sound rang out.
“……!”
Kang Cheol-woo and the players widened their eyes in shock.
“Sword Barrier!”
A brilliant blue barrier formed in front of Lee Rowoon, blocking Yuk Sagul’s sword energy as effortlessly as a seawall halting a raging tide.
The man who was said to be the guild leader of the Dark Shadow Guild…
“How dare you!”
With a roar, he tilted aside the sword that had conjured the barrier.
“A lowly insect like you dares to covet whose presence?!”
The sheer martial energy contained within his voice was overwhelming. The force alone made the players instinctively cover their ears, their faces twisted in pain.
“Are you a martial artist?”
Yet, Yuk Sagul stood atop the debris, unfazed, his gaze locked onto Jeong Chi-soo. His expression was eerily calm—completely unaffected by the thunderous power that had shaken everyone else to their core.
Thud, thud.
From within the wreckage, other martial artists began to reveal themselves.
“An item, is it?”
Lee Rowoon spoke in a calm, level voice as he observed them.
He had noticed it from the very beginning.
‘Yuk Sagul’s sword.’
At first glance, it looked no different from the swords commonly used by martial artists, but the energy imbued within it was entirely different.
A weapon meant exclusively for martial artists.
‘A Divine Armament.’
It must have been with that power that Yuk Sagul had managed to survive alongside the other martial artists.
“Hiding your identity and infiltrating the subjugation squad—what is your objective?”
Yuk Sagul’s voice was filled with killing intent.
“The old man who’s on the verge of death still has quite a bit of strength.”
It was Lee Rowoon.
Before they knew it, the number of martial artists emerging from the wreckage had reached nearly twenty, including Yuk Sagul.
This meant that close to forty had lost their lives in the explosion.
Even those who had survived were in no great condition.
Their bodies were covered in burns, and they seemed to have suffered internal injuries from hastily forcing their inner energy to protect themselves from the blast.
Swoosh.
Just as Lee Rowoon was about to raise his hand toward them—
“Will you grant me an opportunity?”
It was Jeong Chi-soo’s voice.
“How dare you spea—”
“Guild member.”
At Lee Rowoon’s words, Jeong Chi-soo flinched before speaking again.
“This man aimed for a guild member’s presence. It is… something I cannot tolerate as a fellow guild member.”
Turning his back on Yuk Sagul as if disregarding his existence, Jeong Chi-soo bowed his head toward Lee Rowoon.
“I ask that you grant me this opportunity.”
On the day of the Blood Demon’s advent, Jeong Chi-soo had failed to recognize the true Blood Demon and had foolishly pointed his sword at the Blood Demon God.
Ignorance might have been the cause, but ignorance was no excuse for forgiveness.
Though he had survived by the mercy of the great Blood Demon, the sin of that day never left his mind.
‘An opportunity.’
A chance to atone, even in the slightest. A chance to be of use to the Blood Demon.
“Go ahead. Well…”
Lee Rowoon glanced toward Yuk Sagul, who was still trying to steady his breathing in the background.
“He doesn’t seem like a bad opponent.”
Swoosh.
Jeong Chi-soo turned around once more.
Before he knew it, the members of the Black Shadow Guild had lined up beside him.
The Blood Sword squad members stood with their swords drawn.
“A guild member’s enemy must be eliminated. You understand what that means, don’t you? Don’t embarrass yourselves.”
“Yes, sir.”
A deep, solemn resonance.
“Hmph.”
Yuk Sagul let out a scoff.
They had merely given them time to recover from the internal injuries sustained in the explosion.
“You overstep your bounds.”
They firmly believed they possessed the power to wipe out all their enemies at any moment.
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pat!
The Dark Shadow Guild members leaped into the wreckage.
Just as Yuk Sagul raised his sword to execute another technique—
Kaaang!
“Vermin, you must wash away your sins with your own blood.”
Before anyone realized, Jeong Chi-soo had already lunged forward. His sword clashed violently with Yuk Sagul’s hastily raised blade, sending sparks flying.
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‘This is a good opportunity.’
Lee Rowoon had settled into a comfortable position, watching the battle unfold.
“Uh, is this really okay? Shouldn’t we step in and help…?”
Kang Cheol-woo spoke on behalf of the players, but Lee Rowoon simply waved his hand, uninterested.
“It’s fine.”
Without another word, Kang Cheol-woo turned his gaze toward the corridor where the battle was raging.
If the Dark Shadow Guild lost, they would die as well.
“Ugh!”
“Keugh!”
“What kind of swordsmanship is this?!”
However, despite having only nine members aside from Lee Rowoon, the Dark Shadow Guild was relentlessly overwhelming the wounded martial artists.
And the most impressive among them—
Ka-ka-ka-ka-kang!
—was Jeong Chi-soo.
His sword twisted at bizarre angles, toying with Yuk Sagul.
Kang!
Yuk Sagul was being pushed back, unable to even launch a proper counterattack.
‘An elder of Haenam…’
To Kang Cheol-woo, the situation felt unreal, like a dream.
Martial artists were not ordinary people.
They spent their entire lives training to fight and wound others.
Among them, Yuk Sagul was an elder of Haenam.
Haenam was one of South Korea’s top three guilds, controlling the elite force known as the Haenam Guild.
The martial artists of Haenam, known as direct disciples of the main Guild, were overwhelmingly powerful.
Even among them, Yuk Sagul was considered a monster.
Kaaang!
“……!”
The sword, aimed at an opening, was blocked far too effortlessly.
“Haste.”
A whisper-like incantation.
At that moment, Yuk Sagul’s movements accelerated unnaturally.
‘Speed…?’
Jeong Chi-soo’s pupils constricted.
It wasn’t just speed. The flow of his internal energy, the way his sword moved—it was all too refined, as if his entire body had suddenly been enhanced beyond normal human limits.
Paang!
A sudden burst of movement.
Jeong Chi-soo instinctively twisted his body, but—
Chak!
A sharp pain flared across his side.
Blood sprayed into the air.
‘Did I just get cut…?’
For the first time in this battle, Jeong Chi-soo had taken a hit.
Yuk Sagul took a step back, his expression calm, yet his smile deepening.
“You’re holding out better than I expected.”
His voice was relaxed, as if he had finally found something entertaining.
Jeong Chi-soo clenched his jaw, suppressing the pain.
‘I didn’t see it at all.’
His honed instincts, his trained reflexes—none of them had managed to keep up with Yuk Sagul’s last movement.
No, it wasn’t just speed.
‘Is this… magic?’
It was different from the pure martial prowess that martial artists cultivated.
It felt foreign, yet eerily efficient.
A chilling thought crossed Jeong Chi-soo’s mind.
‘Haenam… could they have adapted to the modern era as well?’
If so, this was not just a battle of skills.
It was a battle of evolution.
And at this moment, Yuk Sagul had the upper hand.
Yuk Sagul’s voice emerged.
Paat!
His figure vanished like a mirage.
Shifting Form and Exchanging Position.
A supreme movement technique so fast that afterimages remained.
“Strength.”
Kaaaaang!
Yuk Sagul’s descending sword struck Jeong Chi-soo’s blade, forcing it back.
“Internal power amplification.”
The sword aura surrounding Yuk Sagul’s blade deepened in color.
And finally—
Kwaaaang!
With an explosion, Jeong Chi-soo was sent flying.
Gooooo!
The immense energy caused Yuk Sagul’s hair to flutter against gravity.
“This is…”
“This is…”
Both Yuk Sagul and Lee Rowoon spoke simultaneously.
“The power of divine weapons.”
“The items of martial artists.”
Pasusut.
Debris fell as Jeong Chi-soo emerged from where he had crashed into the passage.
A staggering body, tattered clothes.
His face twisted like that of a furious demon.
Humiliation.
“How dare….”
Who was the commander of the Blood Sword Unit?
The captain of the elite guards who protected the Blood Demon Palace.
A warrior who considered himself equal to, if not above, the elders.
“How dare you!”
To have shown such a disgraceful sight before the Blood Demon.
‘I’ll kill him.’
Yuk Sagul—the one who had humiliated him—he would kill him.
Then, he would confess his sins to the Blood Demon and cut off one of his own arms.
“You’re quite impressive. But isn’t it too arrogant to talk like that in your condition?”
Yuk Sagul smirked as he moved to finish off Jeong Chi-soo.
“Foolish.”
Lee Rowoon’s voice rang out.
“Do you understand now? Do you see what you’ve been doing?”
Yuk Sagul ignored the voice and continued forward.
“…?”
But his body wouldn’t move.
“Does that old man seem impressive to you? No. There are over a hundred people stronger than him in Haenam. What were you expecting from some elder who operates outside the Sect?”
What was happening?
Yuk Sagul looked at Jeong Chi-soo with a dazed expression.
“They’re covered in those kinds of items. Even greater ones than that.”
Yuk Sagul’s eyes wandered.
Martial artists like himself—though they had used the power of their items to overpower the Dark Shadow Guild—were now frozen in place.
Their faces also bore expressions of confusion.
“This is the price of rotting away in stagnation. Do you understand now?”
“An unforgivable sin. I shall eliminate the enemies of the Blood Demon and atone with my life.”
“Bl… Blood Demon?”
“A person who cannot even take down an old man like that is not needed. And I told you not to do that.”
Swish.
Lee Rowoon, who had been sitting, rose to his feet.
“Y-You madman…!”
At last, Yuk Sagul understood.
His body had turned rigid, frozen in place.
Killing intent…
An overwhelming, immeasurable killing intent was pressing down on every martial artist present.
“Lifting the restriction.”
Gwoong.
“Dispose of them.”
The moment Lee Rowoon turned his back, as if he had seen enough—
Guuuuuuuu!
The Dark Shadow Guild members began radiating thick demonic energy.
It wasn’t just any aura—it was blood-red, darker and more sinister than anything Yuk Sagul had ever witnessed.
“As you command.”
Puk! Pupukupukupuk!
The sound of flesh being pierced rang out from all directions.
Even as Jeong Chi-soo approached, Yuk Sagul couldn’t lift his sword.
The killing intent that had frozen him earlier was gone.
But this—
Flicker.
The man before him, the leader of the Dark Shadow Guild—his killing intent was now bearing down on him.
It was at least twice as powerful as before.
Even with the power of his divine artifact activated, Yuk Sagul knew.
He stood no chance.
“Thank you, worm.”
Jeong Chi-soo stood before him, gripping his sword.
“Because of you, we’ve realized just how great our sins were.”
“N-no….”
Yuk Sagul whimpered as he saw the sword rising.
“As payment, I’ll end it in one strike. The sin of obstructing the Blood Demon’s path—wash it away with your blood.”
“No—!”
Slash!
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“……”
Kang Cheolwoo stood frozen, his mind blank.
He wasn’t the only one.
Gulp.
Other players, too, struggled to process what had just unfolded before them.
He stopped the martial artists from moving… using only killing intent?
Was such a thing even possible?
Blood Demon…?
The name rang in his mind like an omen.
He didn’t understand it.
But one thing was certain.
Gulp.
These people—these monsters—were far more terrifying than the warriors of Haenam.
—Want me to show you a way to survive?
That whisper had once seemed like the voice of a devil.
But now, Kang Cheolwoo realized—it was something far worse.
“P-please… spare me….”
His voice trembled, stripped of all resolve.
Before, he had dared to stand against Haenam’s forces.
Now, there was only terror.
Overwhelming. Crushing.
There was only one thing left he could do…
“Please… spare—!”
Shk.
His desperate plea was cut short.
“What are you doing?”
Standing before the erased magic circle, Lee Rowoon watched him with a lazy expression.
“Let’s go.”
Before Kang Cheolwoo even realized it, Rowoon was already in front of the gate leading to Armo’s headquarters.
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