I Shouldn't Have Joined the Martial Arts Alliance - Chapter 106

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Entering the Murim Alliance for No Reason — Chapter 106
On the day of the duel, people gathered in numbers beyond counting. Among them were quite a few who had been named as contenders for the championship.
Many had simply been swept along by the tide of the crowd, they told themselves; yet there was no denying a deeper curiosity about what the witch’s son truly was capable of.
But the moment So Seol-ru saw the witch’s son face off against the warriors of the Baekri Family with her own eyes—
“He’s going to be slaughtered…….”
“Why is he doing something so insane?”
she couldn’t help but wonder.
It was no different from throwing himself off a cliff.
If he wanted fame, he should at least go about it with some measure of sense…….
Of course, she’d heard the stories.
Jang Ryeo had killed the direct line of the Baekri Family long ago, and the Baekri Family had come here with a trap laid in wait, their hatred driving them to kill the witch’s son.
And that trap was said to have failed.
The story was one thing, but looking at what lay before her eyes now, the Baekri Family had more than enough cause for revenge.
And was that all?
So Seol-ru, who had only recently become a subordinate of Jang Hye-in of the Murim Alliance Patrol Squad, simply could not understand it.
“Why must he…….”
No. Not why. Such recklessness should never be attempted. Not for any reason whatsoever.
Why throw himself into a fire so obviously destined to consume him?
And so Jang Hye-in speaks.
“Youngest.”
“Yes, Deputy Commander.”
“It’s not a choice.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
“Remember this: the path Sa U-rin walks with that one is always a road to hell.”
“……But surely this is something the Supreme Being deliberately orchestrated?”
“I thought so at first too. But no. One way or another, this day was always coming. If not this, then that. If not that, then this. You must always be prepared to die. So long as Sa U-rin walks alongside him.”
“……Why?”
“You ask why, and I’ve nothing left to tell you. But in time, spending days with Sa U-rin, you’ll understand. That bastard has quite the knack for digging his own grave.”
“……Yes, I understand.”
There was little to say in response. Yet her confusion remained unshaken.
She had sworn to herself to give everything to Sa U-rin, but facing such an absurd death, she found herself questioning that vow.
But what else could she do?
A vow already made.
A life saved by Sa U-rin.
She had dedicated it to him, had she not?
Yes, such a small thing…….
And yet, for all her resolve, she could not find peace.
Nearly sixty warriors of the Baekri Family stood before them, eyes burning with intent.
Still, there was one reassurance.
“If things become truly dangerous, the Supreme Being will surely intervene, won’t she?”
That was only natural, was it not?
She wouldn’t simply stand by and watch her son die before her eyes.
“Wake up.”
“…….”
“She will not move. Not once. And if anyone tries to help, she will bar them instead. Don’t you understand such things?”
“What do you mean…….”
“A tiger throws its cubs off a cliff to test them.”
“That’s because…… they’re beasts…….”
“She is such a being.”
“……Surely not?”
That sort of thing happens because they are beasts…….
The Supreme Being is human…….
Truly, if the Deputy Commander spoke true and the Supreme Being does not intervene…….
“……I see no hope of survival for us here.”
So it was, she felt she would lose her mind.
“Do not worry.”
“……How can I not?”
How could she possibly not worry?
With death hanging over her head!
“Do you see that sword in Sa U-rin’s hand?”
“…Yes.”
“That sword looks mysterious, doesn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
“That sword looks as mysterious as it is formidable. With that blade alone, we won’t die.”
Jang Hye-in had seen it with his own eyes, after all.
He didn’t want to believe it, yet he couldn’t deny it. He and his men had survived because of the Hwa-ryong Sword in Sa U-rin’s hand.
Along with Chu-yeop and his subordinates as well.
So, Jang Hye-in and his men had come to think that Sa U-rin’s transformation at Hyeol-u Bang was because of that Hwa-ryong Sword.
So Seol-ru found Jang Hye-in’s words utterly incomprehensible—no, absurd.
“…You’re saying we can survive because of that sword?”
Jang Hye-in nodded with absolute confidence. The men beside him did the same, their heads bobbing in agreement.
“Yes. So believe it.”
“But…”
She simply couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
And the Deputy Commander, starting with him and going all the way to Sa U-rin—they all seemed strange. Even if they looked fine on the surface.
It was enough to drive her mad.
Just then, Jang Ryeo, who had been watching from afar, called out to Sa U-rin.
“Son.”
Sa U-rin’s head turned suddenly toward his mother’s voice.
“…What is it?”
In a moment this tense, no less.
It wasn’t just Sa U-rin.
Countless spectators were watching them with bated breath, weren’t they?
“Bring the Hwa-ryong Sword here.”
“…I’m sorry?”
Even as he heard the words, Sa U-rin found himself questioning his own ears.
It was too absurd.
“I said to give me the Hwa-ryong Sword in your hand. Didn’t you hear?”
“I… yes.”
He’d heard. He heard, but it made no sense to him.
As if it weren’t enough that she’d driven her only precious son to the brink of death, now she was trying to rob him of the very will to survive, the will to struggle for life itself.
“Come now, hand it over.”
“…Mother?”
Please, come to your senses.
Sa U-rin gripped the Hwa-ryong Sword firmly, resolved never to let it be taken from him.
But…
“If you wish to fight with the Hwa-ryong Sword, then stand alone against them all.”
Jang Ryeo knew. Though she hadn’t seen it, she had heard. Heard what had transpired because of the Hwa-ryong Sword.
And if, truly, right here and now, in front of all these people, such an impossible thing were to happen again, what would they all say?
That it was sorcery.
That it was demonic arts.
That he wasn’t human.
And so on.
They would speak of nothing else. And if that happened, Sa U-rin could be buried alive in Gangho.
So she meant to prevent that before it could occur.
Thus Sa U-rin had no choice but to sheathe the Hwa-ryong Sword and hand it to his mother.
“And fight only with the Jang Family Manor’s blade. That is the purpose of this duel today. Do you understand?”
“…Even in this situation?”
Couldn’t he die?
“You said you weren’t afraid of death.”
“…I said that. But still…”
To have the Hwa-ryong Sword taken away, and to be forbidden from using Honwon-gong as well—wasn’t that too great a handicap?
“Do you lack confidence?”
Confidence had always been there. Because he was Sa U-rin.
“…I understand.”
Very well then.
Jang Hye-in’s head sank toward the ground. So did his men’s.
“Sigh…”
“What now…”
“She’s telling us to go die, that’s what.”
“You’re even taking away the last hope that remains.”
“Suspicion kills, doesn’t it?”
Sa U-rin had never imagined his own mother would guide him down the road to the underworld.
This was something else entirely from training that risked death.
He could actually die!
It was true.
Jang Ryeo the witch.
Sa U-rin’s mother had pushed him directly into this situation.
Sa U-rin had no choice but to draw the sword he’d inherited from his father once more.
Jang Hye-in asked him then.
“U-rin, will you be all right?”
“…Don’t worry.”
“…Understood.”
“I’ll take point.”
“You’ll manage?”
“Then Deputy Commander, will you be taking the lead instead?”
A question asked out of courtesy. Pure courtesy!
Did he really have to ask it even at a time like this?
“…U-rin, it has to be you.”
“Right?”
He knew it — so why ask? Really.
“Yes.”
“Then, shall we begin?”
He wished they didn’t have to begin at all.
“We have to.”
Since they had to do this anyway.
“Then, I’m going in.”
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s do this.”
“What of it.”
“We die once, not twice.”
“…But I feel like I’ve died a hundred times already?”
“Drop the pointless talk.”
“Consider us dead, and let’s try it once.”
“When have you ever not?”
It was true. But.
So Seol-ru couldn’t speak. Or rather, had nothing to say.
She was at a loss for words.
To think they’d actually go through with this madness…
So Seol-ru’s gaze turned toward Sa U-rin. And the words Deputy Commander Jang Hye-in had spoken moments before came back to her.
‘This always happens when U-rin is with that one,’ he’d said.
If such things were always following in his wake…
The corners of So Seol-ru’s mouth lifted.
‘…I suppose I will get stronger.’
And.
‘This might be fun.’
Anticipation more than fear.
Thrill more than trembling.
Spreads through So Seol-ru’s entire body. Vitality surges forth.
It wasn’t just So Seol-ru.
Jang Hye-in and the squad members griped on the surface, but they all brimmed with an inexplicable vitality.
It was the vitality of martial artists living in the Gangho.
And so the warriors of the Baekri Family, full of resentment, and Sa U-rin’s companions were forced to stake their lives on something from which they shouldn’t have to die.
All because of someone.
Thus a battle erupted, one that resembled war itself.
Sa U-rin, Jang Hye-in, and the squad members found themselves locked in a desperate fight from the very start.
The moment the Baekri Family warriors engaged, they unleashed waves of Sword Aura without hesitation.
“Damn!”
“These bastards!”
“This is maddening!”
“Such a cowardly trick!”
Sa U-rin, Jang Hye-in, and the squad members were kept busy parrying the incoming Sword Aura. Yet they couldn’t counter with Sword Aura of their own.
The squad members, forced to battle sixty warriors, had to conserve their Internal Energy.
The Sword Aura made it impossible to advance.
“Hold just a little longer!”
They couldn’t sustain this barrage forever. Internal Energy had its limits.
And they were no Absolute Masters.
As half an hour elapsed, the relentless rain of Sword Aura finally ceased.
Sa U-rin seized the moment without hesitation.
Thump!
He launched himself upward with a sharp push off the ground, then drove straight into the heart of the Baekri Family ranks.
Using that opening, Jang Hye-in and the squad members drove into the enemy formation as well.
Clang-clang-clang!
Eleven warriors against sixty.
Disadvantaged by any measure, yet Sa U-rin, Jang Hye-in, and the squad paid it no mind.
And So Seol-ru, who had only arrived the day before, moved as one with them—though she kept to the rear.
There was no choice. So Seol-ru hadn’t endured the same hellish training as Sa U-rin, Jang Hye-in, and the others, so they had to account for her accordingly.
That was why.
The hellish training Sa U-rin, Jang Hye-in, and the squad had undergone truly had forged them into formidable warriors.
A bizarre spectacle unfolded—not eleven, but ten warriors, excluding So Seol-ru, were driving sixty back.
It drew involuntary gasps from any who witnessed it.
Screams and groans echoed from all directions, and the ground was turning slick with blood.
The blood of the Baekri Family warriors.
The Baekri Family warriors, bound together by hatred, were soaking in it.
Soaked in crimson.
Defeated in a way that defied sense.
Gripped by the terror that they would be buried here, let alone achieve their revenge.
And so the number of Baekri Family warriors dwindled, their will to settle their grudge fading with each fallen comrade.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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