Chapter 154: Monsters (3)
Boom!
Bang!
Kaboom-!
The sky split, and the earth cracked in half.
Whenever their swords clashed, thunderous roars echoed, startling everyone around.
It was no surprise that the Eddy Mercenary Corps gathered at the lot, wondering what was happening.
And they saw it.
Two youths wielding their swords with mythic prowess.
Two monsters displaying an unbelievable spectacle straight out of legend.
‘Who is that?’
‘What kind of youth is he? Who could possibly match our boss so evenly…’
‘This is absurd. I thought the orphanage teacher was ridiculous, but this is just…’
‘What’s going on here?’
Eddy and the other mercenaries, eyes wide and mouths agape, watched the incredible fight.
A ferocious, deadly battle where a moment’s lapse could split one’s body in two!
Yet, after clashing swords fiercely and separating, both youths’ expressions remained utterly relaxed.
I, Harang, spoke.
“You’ve gotten pretty strong.”
“You seem the same as ever.”
“Even your bravado’s grown?”
“It’s not bravado. I’m just saying what I feel.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Or maybe… I’ve grown so much stronger that I can’t even notice your modest progress.”
“Strange. You didn’t used to have this kind of personality… Is it the outside world’s influence?”
“Nonsense.”
Godok Rank 3, Gael, dismissed my words.
Wooooooong-!
He infused his sword with even stronger aura.
It wasn’t just raw energy.
I could tell.
His sword carried the energies of metal, water, wood, fire, and earth, each amplifying the others.
‘A peculiar guy.’
He was always like that.
Unlike other Godok who awakened the aura of darkness first, he stubbornly used only those five elements until the moment he was freed from the village.
His combat style was far from an assassin’s.
I used to think he was foolish for preferring honorable duels like a noble family’s young master, but not anymore.
‘If he’s come this far with that rigid, inflexible swordsmanship, I have to respect it.’
Moreover, as he’d said, he had grown stronger.
Not just a little, either.
I had grown tremendously since leaving the village.
Yet, the tension and urgency I felt meant he had achieved unimaginable growth in that time too.
“This is fun.”
I let out a small laugh.
There was no change in my presence.
As always, I observed my opponent, cloaked in a faint, eerie aura.
I looked quite relaxed, and Gael, seized by an urge to wipe that expression off my face, unleashed even wilder energy.
Wooooooong-!
Something astonishing happened.
It wasn’t five elements.
Six, no, seven!
On top of metal, water, wood, fire, and earth, he cloaked himself in the energies of wind and lightning, stomping the ground so hard it shook.
Then he vanished in an instant.
I furrowed my brow.
Like a typhoon, powerful.
Like lightning, intense.
Seeing his sword slashing diagonally from the air like a natural disaster, I unleashed an even deeper aura of darkness.
Kaboooooom-!
Our swords clashed.
The dark aura that had enveloped the surroundings tore like a curtain.
Gael, having honed the seven fundamental attributes to their limits, seized the advantage for the first time since the fight began.
And that wasn’t the end.
Two, three, four, five, six, seven!
Seven attacks poured out like waves in the blink of an eye.
Terrifying speed and power.
My lower body began to sink into the ground like a nail struck by a hammer.
“No way!”
“What’s that!”
The Eddy Mercenary Corps members shouted in shock.
It was a sight they’d never seen.
Though Hagio, the orphanage teacher, had shown incredible feats, I had always held the upper hand.
I had never been at a disadvantage like this, so Eddy and the other officers gripped their hands, watching me with tense expressions.
Of course, the onlookers’ reactions had no effect on us two swordsmen.
Boom!
Kaboom-!
KABOOOM!
Having landed, Gael pressed his assault.
This time, he didn’t stick to vertical slashes.
Horizontal, diagonal, pinpoint—mixing slashes and thrusts, a ferocious barrage poured like a storm.
I deftly blocked and deflected it all, but the situation didn’t look good.
I was like a willow tree swaying in a raging storm.
‘Good.’
A faint smile crossed Gael’s face.
But he didn’t let his guard down.
His opponent was a being who hadn’t budged from the Rank 1 spot for over a decade.
Even the madwoman Maya didn’t dare challenge him one-on-one—a monster among monsters.
There was no way he’d fall so easily.
No way he’d collapse without showing anything.
As he thought this, he saw his opponent, who had been purely defensive, thrust his sword.
The problem was, it was an utterly reckless attack that disregarded his own safety.
‘Is he insane?’
It was certainly a sharp strike.
Its target was Gael’s abdomen.
If it hit, it would be a critical wound.
But at what cost?
His own life.
Yes, I had thrown out a reckless gambit, disregarding defense and my own life for a mutually destructive blow.
‘Disappointing, Harang.’
Frowning, Gael withdrew his thrusting sword to parry mine.
A mutual destruction wasn’t the outcome he wanted.
He desired a perfect victory.
The problem was, such absurd tactics kept pouring from his opponent.
Swish!
Shweeeeek-!
Whooom!
‘…This guy.’
Gael’s expression grew darker.
Every strike aimed at vital points.
But they were crude, reckless attacks that disregarded the consequences—almost like a tantrum!
He didn’t like it.
Disappointment piled up.
What was this?
As if he had no intention of winning, as if begging for a draw… Where was the dignity of Rank 1 in this barrage of mutually destructive moves?
‘Boring.’
Gael ground his teeth.
The Harang he had respected, even admired, was dead.
Whether the outside world had changed him or something else, it didn’t matter.
What mattered was that he had disappointed him.
Finishing his thoughts, Gael stepped back three paces.
Then he took a deep breath to infuse his sword with even stronger aura.
Wooooooong-!
I’ll crush you completely with this one strike.
I’ll shatter you with a blow so powerful you’ll never think of such weak tactics again.
With no respect left for his opponent, Gael was careless, leaving an opening.
And I wasn’t one to miss it.
Pop-!
BOOM!
KABABABABABAM-!
Revealing the one-tenth of my strength I’d hidden, I charged into his space at full force.
Instead of swinging my sword, I struck his solar plexus hard with the hilt.
Unable to react, Gael spat blood and flew far, bouncing across the ground like a skipping stone before crashing into the hideout’s outer wall, raising a cloud of dust.
“…”
“…”
“…”
It happened in an instant.
As everyone stared blankly, processing the unexpected outcome, only Hagio nodded as if he’d expected it and spoke.
“You seemed off today, but it was on purpose.”
“I thought mixing in some acting lowly during combat might work. It’s not bad for inducing carelessness.”
“Dirty move.”
“Isn’t that high praise for us?”
“I meant it as such. Gael was the fool for falling for it.”
A scathingly blunt remark.
But there was no room for rebuttal.
Brushing off the debris and rising, Gael emerged from the dust and spoke.
“…I have no words.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Can I ask one thing?”
“What?”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
Gael asked with a puzzled expression.
His feelings were complex.
Relief that the opponent he once respected still shone brilliantly.
Resolve to train harder to close the gap.
Various thoughts swirled, but the hardest to understand was why I had shown mercy.
Godok grew by devouring weaker beings, after all.
But that was just Gael’s perspective.
For me, Harang, it was an easy question to answer.
“Because this is the outside world.”
“…”
“I’m not the old me. I’m a Gold Plate Mercenary of the Eddy Mercenary Corps now… and mercenaries don’t kill without a contract. Honestly, even with payment, I don’t want to live by killing anymore, but that’s how it is.”
“…You’ve changed a lot.”
“You haven’t changed much. Were you holed up in some mountain?”
“I don’t feel like answering.”
“Then there’s nothing I can do.”
“…I’ll come back later.”
After shooting a grim look, Gael quickly left.
I couldn’t bring myself to stop him.
I wanted to tell him to stay in Marzen, to spar whenever we were bored, but I knew that wasn’t his personality.
‘He said he’d come back, so there’ll be plenty of chances to fight. Besides, I’m curious about what he’s been doing and thinking…’
But I felt such a conversation was greedy.
He was an utterly solitary being even in the village.
I was grateful just to have a future meeting to look forward to.
“Phew, good.”
Nodding, I wore a proud expression.
Lately, unable to spar with the Mercenary King Austin, I’d been craving a fight, and this had somewhat satisfied it.
For a while, I could lock myself in the training room, refining the inspiration from the Red Magician and internalizing the small insights from this fight with Gael.
That’s when—
“…Harang. No, Sir Harang.”
“Oh… Hello.”
Ransel Grantz suddenly addressed me with a title fit for knights.
I made an awkward expression.
It wasn’t intentional, but the situation had unfolded as if I’d hidden my strength.
‘He must be pretty shocked.’
He might even be angry, thinking he was humiliated.
That wasn’t normal behavior, but I’d thought nobles often had abnormal ones.
Fortunately, Ransel Grantz wasn’t such a narrow-minded person.
As expected, his reputation for good character was known throughout the kingdom.
But despite that, his next words were enough to throw me off.
Thud.
“Please… become my swordsmanship teacher!”
“…”
“I beg you!”
Seeing Ransel Grantz kneel and plead, I could only wear a troubled expression.
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