Chapter 60 – Deserted Island Survival Training (7)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

The man standing at the front suddenly started clapping, and the applause made an unpleasant echo. Then he scratched at his temple and opened his mouth with a slimy tone.

“Kid, what the hell are you? I threw those lightly, sure, but they still weren’t something you should’ve been able to dodge that easily. What, are you some kind of disguised contractor too?”

At the sight of him flicking his tongue like some grotesque snake, I furrowed my brow deeply. At that, the man let out a dry laugh tinged with metal. Then he casually tossed a remark to the captain standing beside him, Rei Shion.

“Captain, that bastard’s no ordinary guy, is he? How the hell can a brat make that kind of face in a situation like this? He’s an interesting bastard. Captain, seriously, what do you think about recruiting him?”

“……”

Rei Shion, her arms folded, did not answer him. Instead, she sharpened her cold gaze even more firmly on me. Her eyes narrowed as though measuring me.

A woman whose appearance stood out among the large men. She looked almost like a noblewoman on the surface, but what lay beneath was that of a blood-soaked murder-for-hire assassin.

‘Rei Shion.’

When I had played the game, she had not been human. People who became able to wield mana by directly contracting with a legion commander were called Villains by the world.

They did not carry much weight until the early middle part of the story, but just before the latter half, they were the first beings to threaten humanity as the advance dogs of the legion commanders.

I stared at her with wide eyes. Compared to the first time I encountered her while playing Miracle’s Blessing M, she was in a rather different state.

The killing intent drifting from her expressionless face made my skin sting, but that was undoubtedly human. It seemed this was still before the point when she had fallen and become a Villain.

‘Right. The first time I met her was probably around Leon’s last semester of third year.’

Maybe because she felt my gaze, Rei Shion spoke in a single chilling syllable steeped in possessiveness. Even so, there was something strange in the elegance lingering in her eyes.

“…Who do you belong to?”

“……”

What the fuck was she talking about.

It was insane enough that these Undertakers had suddenly attacked me, and now she was interrogating me about who I belonged to.

The summer heat made irritation rise, but the moment your head was swallowed by emotion in a situation like this, you invited mistakes.

In a moment like this, a flash of excitement would drive you straight into danger, so I had to recover my reason as fast as possible.

I forcibly suppressed my emotions and began quietly swallowing my breath. Soon, the thoughts that had been burning red cooled down quickly.

Rolling my eyes over the enemies, I began assessing their strength. There were seven of them in plain sight, but judging by instinct, there were probably two or three more hidden nearby.

‘Roughly around ten in total.’ Meanwhile, the snake-like man joined in with a friendly smile and started speaking.

Hey, brat. You should know you’re something special, huh?! Isn’t this basically the first time the captain’s ever taken interest in prey? Right, Vice-Captain?

“As if asking for agreement, he jabbed the side of the man called vice-captain. The vice-captain let out a short sigh and nodded.”

Yeah, seeing those movements, he was definitely not ordinary. I assumed he was just some kid, even if he was the top student this year, but at that level, he could jump straight into this line of work. And that brat dodged all your attacks while carrying a bag, Parik. Well… not perfectly, but still.

“The vice-captain sneered at me with a crooked smile. At that, the hazy emotions that had been rising like smoke vanished in an instant, and something bleak began racing through every corner of my veins.”

It felt as though my awareness and heartbeat were stopping. An overwhelming loss of strength washed over me in waves, and the numbness rising from my fingertips wrapped around my entire body. ‘This feeling…’ A dull shock like the back of my head had just been struck. It resembled the unexplained exhilaration I had felt during that spar with Nox.

As that intoxication coiled through me together with the heat rising in my blood, I ended up tossing the bag I had been carrying down onto the dirt and speaking.

Since the body disposal team showed up, the one who hired you must be at least elder level.

At that, the faces of the Undertakers twisted mercilessly.

I had only thrown that line out by piecing together all the information I had gathered so far, but judging by their reaction, I had hit the mark. At once, the particularly vicious-looking vice-captain exploded.

“You little piece of shit, who the fuck are you affiliated with?! You dare investigate us—”

Enough.

Before the vice-captain could even finish, Captain Rei Shion cut him off. At that, he twisted his mouth badly, clicked his tongue with a curse, and fell silent. Looking at me, Rei Shion asked coldly.

“It seems you know something about us.”

“Only that you’re human butchers who kill people for money.”

My tone was openly provocative. A faint dryness sank into her eyes.

“That crazy bastard. Of all things, he picked the words the captain hates most.”

“The expressions of the Undertakers, vice-captain included, shifted increasingly toward disconcertment. I knew Rei Shion’s disposition very well.”

It was something revealed as the main story progressed, but she had originally been born the daughter of a high noble family.

“After being cast out of her house through the betrayal of relatives, she eventually chose the life of a contract killer out of betrayal and resentment toward the nobility.”

That resentment kept growing by the day until she ultimately sold her soul to a legion commander, became a Villain, and was later subjugated by Leon, an unfortunate character…

But I did not feel even the slightest sympathy for someone who had chosen such an inhuman life.

Who in this world did not have circumstances? To begin with, choosing murder just because your environment was damaged was not normal.

By that logic, my own household had collapsed in my past life because of my father’s debt guarantee.

But I had lived straight by slicing fish instead of going astray. I had rejected the temptations of the underworld, no matter how much money they offered.

‘Come to think of it, I was a really pitiful bastard too, wasn’t I…?’ Far more than that killer for hire over there.

……

Rei Shion was staring at me with sharp eyes.

The reason I had deliberately muttered those things was to shake her composure, and judging by the reaction, it had worked perfectly.

They were human, yes, but they were professionals at murder. Not only that, I still had not even fully drawn my weapon, which meant I had to exploit the cracks in the enemy.

“Letting out a low laugh, I added one more line.”

What, just because you’re from a noble house, you don’t like hearing a lowborn scholarship cadet like me call you a human butcher?

This time, Rei Shion’s pupils quivered sharply, and one of the men, the vice-captain, charged forward with a scream as though having a seizure. On his fingers were knuckle dusters crusted with dried blood.

You son of a bitch!

The vice-captain launched himself at me with a sharp rush. His face was filled with nothing but rage and killing intent. The rest of the members froze at his sudden action.

“‘Now.’ This was the exact moment I had deliberately baited Rei Shion’s temper for. A chance to change the flow of a battle that was one against many. At the same time I drew a sashimi knife from inside my clothes, the vice-captain was already right in front of me, cursing.”

Die!

“His weighted knuckle strike aimed straight for my face, and I quickly flicked my wrist to bare the blade. In that brief gap, the vicious punch filled my vision.”

Slick.

Along with the short sound of a cut, a flash slid across the vice-captain’s neck. Our positions crossed.

The vice-captain opened and closed his mouth a few times, then fumbled at his neck with his fingers.

“Wh-what the?”

A precise crimson line appeared on his throat, and then his head dropped with a thud.

The vice-captain’s eyes, growing emptier as the head rolled along the ground, eventually stopped facing the rest of the group.

……!

What the hell was that?!

“Holy shit, Vice-Captain!”

Only then did the shrieking voices of the others burst out.

As if they could not understand what had just happened, they looked back and forth between me and what had once been their vice-captain with blank eyes.

“Something difficult to describe swelled in my chest. It was the first time I had directly cut down a human being.”

“Hoo.”

“That strange rising sensation did not feel bad. In fact, it almost felt like pleasure covering my whole body.”

Letting out a long breath, I brushed my hair back. Only then did the familiar female voice ring in my ears.

[The Blessing of the Sword God is activated.]

The Undertakers saw me and, panic-stricken, drew their assorted weapons and pointed them at me. Rei Shion stood there blankly for a moment, then immediately pulled two knives from her holsters.

“Kill that little fucker!”

Shit!

The bastards cursed like they were screaming. Drool flew everywhere from between yellowed teeth. I stepped toward them.

++++++++++++++++++++++

《Might the blessing of God be with you.》

“++++++++++++++++++++++”

“The fifty seconds in which I could swing a sashimi knife were already ticking away.”

* * *

Crack.

With a sickening sound of flesh being torn, another head dropped with a thud.

Kyaaaaaaaaaagh!

Wh-what the fuck was this bastard?!

The members, thrown into panic, screamed curses at me. Even then, the agile blade skimmed their bodies at a speed they could not react to.

No, where the hell was this—

Slash. Thud.

“The solid bodies of those burly men were severed like tofu. Veins bulging in his neck, Parik shouted.”

“Hey, bastards! Pull yourselves together! It’s just one damn kid. Stab him all at once!”

At his words, the remaining members reorganized their formation in an instant and attacked Kang Geom-ma together. A multitude of sharp spikes lunged toward him.

“But as if he had expected it, Kang Geom-ma put spring into his knees and bent his waist sharply backward, evading them all.”

What the fuck!

Their joint attack stabbed only empty air. Hollow eyes tried desperately to catch Kang Geom-ma’s movements.

“Whirl.”

In that same posture, Kang Geom-ma reversed his grip on the sashimi knife and swung his arm.

Slaaash.

“A burning heat skimmed over their arms, and the hands gripping their weapons were severed one after another.”

Aaaaagh, fuuuuuck! It hurts, it hurts!

You rat bastard, just die already!

One of them swung a blade with his remaining arm.

Kang Geom-ma exerted his force and instantly straightened his waist, then twisted his sashimi knife and thrust.

The blade that burrowed into his Adam’s apple punched through the back of his neck.

“Ghhhk!”

“The member tried to cry out but only let out a choked sound. The moment Kang Geom-ma pulled the sashimi knife free, he crumpled powerlessly to the side. And the others’ eyes shifted, if only for a moment, toward what had once been their comrade.”

Shush.

The blade wet with blood rippled across the throats of the remaining members like a wave.

It was a death they could not even follow with their eyes. Their heads rolled naturally across the ground.

“Fwiing. Fwiing. Fwiing.”

From far behind, arrows flew in.

Sensing the presence, Kang Geom-ma tilted his head slightly without even turning around and let them pass by.

At once, his eyes caught the archers hiding among the trees. The moment they met his icy gaze, their pupils expanded like lanterns.

Oh, shi—

Only then did they try to move.

At the same time, there came the light sound of air being cut, and a sashimi knife flew in a straight line and buried itself precisely in their vital points one after another.

The three archers twitched as though convulsing, then fell under the trees with their necks breaking.

The Undertakers lost the power of speech.

“What in the world was this?”

They were men already more than accustomed to the stench of blood, and yet even for them, this sort of opponent was their first.

The target they had assumed would be prey was instead slaughtering all of them mercilessly.

And the opponent was just a cadet.

They had thought this mission was not merely easy, but practically free money. Yet in less than ten seconds, just how many heads had been taken by that gleaming sashimi knife?

The moment the shock scattered their formation apart, Kang Geom-ma launched himself forward.

Tatatatak.

Before they could even hurriedly step backward, the cold touch of steel was already upon them.

Thud, thududud.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

There was the sound of many things being severed at once, and then the screaming that had filled the background began to die down.

“Only two remained now. Parik and Rei Shion.”

C-Captain!

Parik called out to Rei Shion in a voice thick with fear. A shrill scream leaked through his split tongue.

“Under an indescribable pressure, Rei Shion could only stand there blankly and think.”

He wanted them to kill that?

No matter how she reconsidered it, that was not human skill.

Monster, ghost. No matter what kind of label you put on that bastard, it still would not be enough.

It was an art. Not only the way he moved, but also the blade work that pierced through without resistance. It was a demonic skill that made reality itself feel unstable.

Step, step.

Meanwhile, Kang Geom-ma approached with the sashimi knife gripped in his hand.

Shoulders trembling violently, Parik gasped in a muddy breath and snapped.

“D-don’t come over here, you bastard! Fuck, you human butcher cutting people up with a kitchen knife—”

Crunch.