Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 7 2. Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman (3)

Gulp.

Young-woo unconsciously swallowed heavily.

It was because he instinctively sensed that the opportunity or crisis of a lifetime had arrived.

‘Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman… The moment I obtain this title, I become a target for every strong person.’

Therefore, if he thought about it logically, it would be right to refuse this opportunity.

It was obvious that someday he would encounter an enemy with similar equipment levels but far superior physical abilities.

‘But this isn’t just a simple title.’

Young-woo knew well that the tooltip before his eyes didn’t just mean a ‘title.’

「Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman」 – Unique Title

【First Sword’s Authority】

【Gumi Sword Technique】

This was because he already possessed an item with exactly the same format.

「Early Bird」 – Hero One-Handed Sword

【Very light.】

This meant.

‘The title is also a type of item. The two lines below are special options.’

First Sword’s Authority, Gumi Sword Technique.

Although he couldn’t know exactly what effects they had right now, it seemed certain they would have a tremendous impact on combat power.

Especially ‘Gumi Sword Technique.’

Even Early Bird’s ‘very light’ property had an incredible feel to it, so what about that option with the name ‘sword technique’ attached?

“….”

As Young-woo was contemplating, a countdown finally began.

-Will you ascend to become Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman?

…Acquisition rights will disappear in 5 seconds.

…4.

…3.

‘Damn, they’re not giving me time to think.’

Young-woo quickly reviewed the assets he had secured while the remaining time dwindled.

133,000 Karma, including the payment he would soon receive from Ye-chan.

In addition to this, searching the pockets of the attackers scattered on the ground would yield some more coins.

The equipment dropped by the attackers – spears, axes, hammers – were also a type of asset.

So in this situation, which would be the wiser choice: becoming stronger but making many enemies, or avoiding others’ attention?

‘No, wait. The latter was impossible for me from the start.’

Young-woo’s gaze fell on Early Bird’s silver-white blade.

And right on cue, the countdown reached 1 second.

It was then that Young-woo hastily accepted the position of Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman.

‘I’ll do it, Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman…!’

He widened his eyes in case he was too late, and soon an announcement appeared before the eyes of not only Young-woo but everyone in Gumi City.

「Gumi region’s Greatest Swordsman has been selected!」

「The current Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman is ‘Jung Young-woo07’. 1st generation, 0 defenses.」

「Becoming the Greatest Swordsman allows for overwhelmingly fast growth.」

「Anyone can ascend to Greatest Swordsman through duels, and the succession method is killing.」

‘The succession method is killing…’

As Young-woo felt a chill run down his spine, colorful lights gathered above his head.

Then.

Ping!

With a sharp sound effect, it created a string of text.

『Gumi’s Greatest Swordsman』

It was none other than a title. Just as Young-woo had expected, it was attached above his head for everyone to see.

“Oh… mister.”

Ye-chan, who had been watching all this in a daze, called out to Young-woo.

Young-woo turned his head in that direction, then immediately understood the reason and groaned.

‘Oh no.’

Because he could see it with his own eyes too.

|Currently staying in region ‘Gumi’.

|This region’s Greatest Swordsman is ‘Jung Young-woo07’. 1st generation, 0 defenses.

This text, small in the upper right corner of his vision, didn’t disappear even as time passed.

In other words, anyone could now check the local Greatest Swordsman’s name and record in real time.

‘0 defenses means I haven’t defeated any challengers yet. Everyone and their mother will come charging at me for a while.’

In other words, this was a kind of vulnerable period.

So how many defensive victories would need to accumulate before challengers wouldn’t dare appear?

“….”

No matter how he thought about it, it was too high a mountain to climb.

Young-woo looked up at the title shining above his head with somewhat gloomy feelings.

Then Ye-chan approached Young-woo with clattering sounds.

“Mister, what should we do about this?”

When he looked to see what it was, he saw Ye-chan in an awkward posture, holding three types of weapons in his arms.

He had gathered the legacy left by the attackers.

“What about coins?”

“…Huh?”

Since Ye-chan looked completely clueless, Young-woo silently searched the corpses and found coins.

7,000, then 4,000, and the last guy had 5,000.

‘They must have been quite vicious guys.’

Since they were only given 3,000 as basic living funds, having more than that meant they had stolen others’ coins from the Exchange Office.

Of course, there was a slight possibility they had been exchangers themselves and barely managed to take out only a portion…

‘Well. Would guys who attack others from behind without warning have left points unused?’

It was something he knew from experience.

Evil people had many Death Strikes to launch and many to block, so they couldn’t save Karma points.

Just like his roommate Im Bong-hee.

On the other hand, people who still had points left after all the sniping was over were relatively good.

Wasn’t that the case with the police officer he met at the first Exchange Office, and Ye-chan whom he encountered at Sword Mountain?

Rustle.

Young-woo poured the coins taken from the dead into his backpack and said to Ye-chan.

“Let’s do a proper settlement after we find a safer place.”

Then Ye-chan’s eyes widened and he soon showed a bright face.

“Oh… good.”

From Ye-chan’s perspective, staying close to Young-woo was advantageous for survival.

Moreover, this man Young-woo was now the ‘First Sword of Gumi’.

But the First Sword himself had no room for leisure.

“You said you wanted to use a spear?”

Young-woo said this while pulling out the axe Ye-chan had been carrying and stuffing it into a simple pocket of his backpack.

“There’s no room for the sword. You carry the rest. Use them in emergencies.”

“Really?”

Instead of answering Ye-chan’s question, Young-woo glanced at the people gathered in the distance.

Then he tapped Ye-chan’s shoulder and spoke quietly.

“Of course. Now you need to pull your own weight too.”

* * *

West, and further west.

Young-woo and Ye-chan moved without rest, following the arrow.

And they encountered numerous prospective challengers.

It was because of the title ‘First Sword of Gumi’ that caught the eye even from afar.

However, eight or nine out of ten would step back after confirming Young-woo’s armed state once they got closer.

Even if the opponent wasn’t the First Sword, they lacked confidence to fight someone fully armed with sword and shield.

But not everyone gave up cleanly.

“Are you really the First Sword? Hard to believe.”

A sharp voice directed at Young-woo.

Some giant had been following them for a while, maintaining a distance of about ten meters.

All he held in his hand was a single axe.

“Then come at me. What are you doing acting so pathetic?”

Young-woo glared back and snapped.

Of course, not being a natural fighter, he was purely bluffing.

But at this rate, another challenger might come and create a 2-on-1 situation, or he might suffer a rear ambush while letting his guard down momentarily.

That giant was probably aiming for such a situation.

Though cowardly, he was employing the best strategy from his perspective.

‘If I approach to attack first, he’ll quickly run away… there’s no good solution for this.’

Was this the life of a rookie First Sword?

“People like me can tell at a glance. Whether the opponent is worthless or not.”

The man would throw provocative comments like this whenever he felt like it, watching Young-woo’s reaction.

If Young-woo charged at him again, he planned to run backward.

And eventually.

“Oh, what’s this now. It’s not just one or two people.”

A new challenger who looked far from easy appeared from the side of Young-woo’s group.

Even a duo.

They weren’t as big as the troublesome giant behind them, but their determined eyes and weapon combination were problematic.

They were carrying a shield and sword separately.

Especially the person holding the shield was muscular all over, and the outer edge of the shield was stained red.

This was proof that he had used it well as a weapon until now.

‘It also means he’s hit people with it before.’

Young-woo instinctively knew what was coming had arrived.

“What are you thinking doing this? I don’t think you’re all ex-criminals.”

When Young-woo spoke as if he couldn’t understand, the muscular man glanced up at the sky and said.

“All the big shots are dead and everything’s turned to stone. Isn’t it fair to say the world’s ended? So we’re trying to grab whatever we can while there’s a chance.”

“We don’t just kill anyone randomly either. It’s just that you happen to be the First Sword and look like you have a lot.”

The latter comment was made by the swordsman, the muscular man’s partner, pointing at Young-woo’s backpack.

Then the giant quickly joined the conversation.

“Hey, how about cooperating with me? If we waste more time here, we’ll just get more competitors. Let’s split the loot fairly three ways and leave the title to luck.”

Strong against the weak, weak against the strong… His expression and tone were quite different from when he was provoking Young-woo earlier.

“Not bad.”

“Let’s do it.”

Agreement was reached in an instant.

Young-woo quietly told his client.

“I’ll try my best to fight, but if it looks hopeless for me, find a chance to run. Don’t die a dog’s death for nothing.”

But Ye-chan’s following answer was unexpected.

“Even if I run away, won’t I just die a dog’s death when I meet people like them again? I have a weapon now too, so I’ll help you somehow.”

Ye-chan’s hands looked pale as a corpse from gripping the spear so tightly.

Meanwhile, the giant behind them cast a large shadow as he closed the distance.

Tap tap tap!

At the same time, the sound of two men’s shoes hitting the ground came from the side.

An almost simultaneous coordinated attack.

‘It’s do or die.’

Thud.

Young-woo pushed Ye-chan away to create distance, then pulled his shield close and took a defensive stance.

He planned to somehow endure the first exchange and deal with them one by one.

However, the opponents weren’t being careless either, spreading out in three directions to scatter Young-woo’s attention.

Swoosh!

“…!”

Then they closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Pressure on a completely different level from previous opponents.

‘These damn…!’

Without even time for tactical consideration, Young-woo made a purely instinctive decision.

“Haaaah!”

He guarded his left side with the shield while thrusting Early Bird greatly to the right.

Whiiiiing!

A silver trajectory cut through the air.

And following that.

Whoooosh!

Some golden wave burst out with Young-woo at the center.

“…?”

“Huh?”

It was then that the three challengers, who had been ready to tear Young-woo apart, stopped their movements.

Their hearts suddenly began to hurt as if they would burst.

“Uh…!”

Ye-chan, who looked at Young-woo wondering what was happening, also froze stiff.

The First Sword of Gumi’s eyes had turned golden.

“What the….”

As Young-woo shook his head, not knowing what any of this meant, the golden light left chaotic trajectories.

“Could it be.”

Young-woo finally realized something.

When he shifted his gaze upward, a title and tooltip appeared as usual.

「First Sword of Gumi」 – Unique Title

【First Sword’s Authority】

【Gumi Sword Technique】

‘Could it be that the First Sword’s Authority is…’

The moment Young-woo’s eyes widened, the Giant swung his axe again.

He had barely managed to escape the influence of the Authority and regain control of his body.

“Die!”

Hwaeaeaek!

The heavy axe blade flew toward him with tremendous force.

But Young-woo was actually looking at something completely different.

‘Wh-what is this…?’

Right in front of him stood a hologram that looked exactly like him, holding a sword tilted at an angle.

And it didn’t take even a moment to realize that this was some kind of defensive stance.

Hwaet!

Young-woo quickly mimicked the hologram’s posture.

Then the axe blade struck the sword blade Young-woo had extended, and slid sideways along the blade’s angled surface.

“…?”

Hwik.

The Giant’s body tilted to the side momentarily.

And matching this movement, the hologram showed a thrust toward the Giant’s neck area.

―Death Strike

While displaying the mark ‘Death Strike’ at the point of impact.

‘Ah…!’

Young-woo hurriedly moved his sword exactly as the hologram had done before missing the timing.

Hwit.

The blade that had been tilted downward under the weight of the axe blade sprang up elastically, and using that force, it pierced through his opponent’s neck like lightning.

Pishut!

“Uh.”

“Huk.”

It was such a fast attack that both the one who stabbed and the one who was stabbed didn’t know what had just happened.

And then soon.

Kuwoong.

The Giant’s massive body collapsed.

Grade 4 Human of the Ruined World (Serial)

Author │ Oetu

Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong

Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.

Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok

Address │ 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul, Room 204 (Guro-dong, Daeryung Post Tower 1)

Email │ [email protected]

Website │ www.jayplemedia.com

ⓒOetu2023

※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and no part of the content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from our company and the author.

Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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