North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 10

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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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10. The Beast of the Snow Plain

Central Plains.
The spring in the south was warm and gentle.
Plum blossoms fell in profusion, drifting down onto the tea cup.
The man reached for the cup, then froze.
The still surface of the tea trembled with a faint ripple. Not from wind. Not from the earth’s tremor. It was the murderous intent that had traveled from the distant north—a killing pressure so vicious it made the very air shudder.
“What I feared…”
The man muttered to himself.
His face lay hidden in shadow, beyond the reach of light.
Thud.
A hawk descended onto the windowsill.
A crimson tube hung from its ankle—an Urgent Dispatch that had flown from the North Sea.
With deft fingers, the man unrolled the message.

[North Sea Warrior… <rest omitted>]

The first line to catch his eye.
Yet the terror it contained pierced through the paper as vividly as if freshly written.
“A legend… was it truth? Hah! A North Sea Warrior wielding the North Sea Ice Crystalline Divine Art.”
The corners of the man’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile.
“After all, it’s nothing more than some crude martial art from that frozen wasteland.”
Crackle.
He pressed hard with his fingers.
The finest paper, reduced to powder, scattered like ash.
“So what?”
He spoke into the emptiness.
“Should I be afraid?”
No answer came.
He let out a cold laugh.
“To reach this station in life… I’ve faced countless warriors like the North Sea Warrior. How many? Dozens and more. Among them all, the strongest was Il-seom Danhong. Truly formidable. Does the North Sea Warrior even reach half of Danhong’s power?”
His gaze drifted to a blackwood box resting in the corner of the table.
A pale, searing cold poured from the gap between its seams.
A chill so intense the surrounding air froze white.
The legendary Spirit Medicine, said to have bloomed once in a hundred years—the Snow Lotus Fruit—lay within.
“If he’s coming toward the Central Plains… come on then. Let me hear your fury from here.”
The man drained his tea cup.
“In any case, he’ll never reach this far.”

* * *

Again, the North Sea.
A blizzard obscured the view.
“Chief, there’s something ahead.”
Taikan raised his bow.
His eyes pierced through the curtain of snow.
“…A person?”
“Could be a person. Could be something else.”
“What are you talking about, Taikan?”
Harku sniffed at the air.
“I don’t smell blood.”
“No, there is blood.”
Arko interjected.
“But it’s strange. Not human blood… it smells like beast blood. A bear, maybe?”
“Why would a bear be standing in the middle of the road?”
“Who knows. Let’s go ask it.”
“Hey, go ask him.”
“No. You do it.”
Garkan sighed.
“Enough. The chieftain is watching.”
The four of them fell silent.
Airak walked forward without a word.
The blizzard eased for a moment. And then it appeared. A wall of snow!
There was no other way to describe it.
Covered in white fur was a massive frame that towered nearly nine feet tall. Whether that pelt was a beast skin worn as clothing or hair sprouted from the creature’s own flesh, there was no way to tell.
With each breath, white mist rose from its nostrils.
Half its face was mangled by enormous claw scars.
It was missing an eye. In its place, embedded in the scarred socket, gleamed an icy blue orb.
“…No.”
Taikan’s face went rigid.
“The Three Extreme Ice Beasts?”
“What?”
Harku’s eyes widened.
“Those legendary monsters?”
“They’re not legend. They’re real.”
Garkan spoke in a low voice.
“The most vicious things in the North Sea. Even the Ice Palace doesn’t dare touch them.”
The scourge of the North Sea.
First of the Three Extreme Ice Beasts. Valkar, the Snow Plain Beast.
“Just little rats.”
Valkar opened his mouth.
His voice rolled across the Snow Plain like thunder.
“So Airak finally showed himself—or was it lightning? Heard some dogs barking out here. Did you crawl back for more of your mother’s milk?”
“What did you say?”
Harku bristled.
“You hairy bastard—”
“Harku.”
Garkan cut him off.
“Don’t rush him. He’s different.”
“What’s different? He’s just a bear with big muscles.”
“He’s not a bear.”
Taikan clenched his teeth.
“That thing hunted down the chieftain and stormed all the way into the Extreme Yin Realm. Demanded a fight.”
“…What?”
“Ten years ago. He showed up in the Extreme Yin Realm and destroyed everything in sight, looking for the chieftain.”
“Where was the chieftain then?”
“He was in the Extreme Yin Realm. We didn’t know where exactly. It’s so vast. No light ever reaches it.”
Valkar’s eye blazed.
“At last. The Martial Warrior.”
Crude iron gauntlets covered both his hands.
The Ten-Thousand Year Ice Iron Gauntlets—legendary weapons said to shatter glaciers with a single punch.
“Ten years I’ve waited.”
Valkar growled.
“Because of that false rumor about you being the strongest in the North Sea, do you know the shame I’ve endured?”
“No.”
Airak answered plainly.
“I don’t care.”
“…You dog.”
Valkar’s Murderous Intent erupted.
The blizzard was driven back. The snow within ten paces seemed to evaporate and vanish.
“You said three would attack me together.”
Valkar clanged his gauntlets together.
Bang!
The heavy metallic sound rang across the Snow Plain.
“That’s an insult to the Three Extreme Ice Beasts. Do you think I need three of you to crush one worm like you?”
“So?”
Airak asked.
“You came alone?”
“Of course.”
Valkar bared his teeth.
“I’ll claim the honor of flaying your skin myself.”
……
Airak let out a low chuckle.
“That’s my line.”
Then Garkan shifted his shield grip and snarled.
“Clear the way! Block the chieftain’s path and you’ll bleed for it.”
“Wait a moment, brother.”
Arko stepped forward with a cackling laugh.
“Look at that size. The hide alone would fetch a fortune, yeah?”
“Seriously? Money on your mind now?”
“Sell it to the Central Plains collectors and we could buy a manor. Maybe two.”
“…You’re insane.”
Taikan remained cold and methodical.
He already had his bowstring half-drawn, studying the creature’s weak points.
“The hide’s too thick. Normal arrows bounce off.”
“So where do we aim?”
“The eyes. Well, this one’s missing an eye already. So the nape of the neck or the joints.”
“Brother, I’m getting first strike!”
Harku let out a feral shriek.
Thick drool was already pooling at the corner of his mouth.
His eyes had lost all reason. The instinct of a rabid beast had awakened.
“It’s my prey! Mine, I tell you!”
“Harku, wait—”
“I can smell it! Rich, fatty blood!”
Whoosh!
There was no time to stop him.
Harku launched across the snow, his Twin Fang Blades flashing like a beast’s fangs.
“Hahahaha! Die!”
Harku’s blade technique knew no defense—only slaughter. A sword style born of pure carnage.
In a heartbeat, he plunged into Valkar’s reach and drove his blades toward the creature’s nape.
A clean strike.
Anyone would die with their throat torn open. But.
Clang!
A dull metallic ring shattered across the Snow Plain, and the blade bounced away.
“…What?”
Harku’s eyes widened.
The thick muscle and matted hide wrapping Valkar’s neck were themselves like steel armor—no, closer to Vajra Indestructibility. The effects of External Meridian Energy Cultivation were devastatingly evident.
“Pathetic.”
Valkar snorted.
He didn’t dodge. He didn’t block. He simply flicked his fist forward as if swatting away a bothersome fly.
Ice Bear Dominance.
Pure, raw force channeled through the Ten-Thousand Year Ice Iron Gauntlets.
Crack!
A sickening burst of sound.
Far worse than the snap of breaking bone—the entire torso crumpling like paper.
“Ugh!”
A shockwave erupted from Harku’s back.
His leather armor tore to shreds like parchment.
In one blow, Harku’s body was flung like a stone from a sling, crashing into a snowbank more than ten paces away.
The white field turned red in an instant.
“Harku!”
Taikan immediately drew his bow.
Twang!
The arrow flew straight for Valkar’s eye.
Valkar tilted his head slightly.
Whoosh.
The arrow cut through the empty air and missed.
“Tch.”
Valkar flicked the blood from his gauntlets.
“So they call themselves ‘Warrior of Martial Arts’ and all that. Yet they travel with nothing but small fry like these?”
……
“Disappointing. Deeply so.”
Taikan rushed toward Harku.
Something was gravely wrong with him.
His chest was caved in.
“Three ribs broken, internal organs ruptured. His vital meridians are twisted.”
“Is he alive?”
Garkan asked.
“He’s still breathing. But this…”
“What? What’s the problem?”
Arko drew near.
“The ribs have punctured his lung. An ordinary person would die instantly. Even for us, this is too severe. An injury that would keep him bedridden for half a year.”
Then.
“Cough…!”
Blood-soaked Harku twisted his body.
A thick clot of blood pooled in his mouth, which he spat out. Then he laughed—a strange, brittle sound.
“Damn… it hurts…”
“This crazy bastard.”
“What’s crazy? Pain’s natural, isn’t it?”
“If it hurts, you should cry. Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s funny, I laugh. That man’s fist was terrifying.”
Harku laughed, trailing blood.
“But you know what? I think I could take another one.”
“…You really are insane.”
“Just get me some meat ready, brother. Two or three days and I’ll be patched up.”
Harku did not die.
No—the muscles in his chest were subtly writhing, finding their way back into place.
The Airak Tribe’s Rapid Regeneration. A vitality bordering on that of a beast.
“I’ve heard plenty about the Airak Tribe… but they’re a stubborn lot.”
Valkar raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll grant you one thing—that insect-like persistence of yours. But.”
Crack.
Valkar twisted his neck.
A tremendous wave of murderous intent swept the snow flurries aside.
“Next time I’ll crush your skull. Let’s see if you can endure that.”
……
Garkan and Arko both reached for their weapons at once.
Rage had crossed its threshold.
“Stand down.”
The voice was low but absolute. It was Airak.
“Chieftain!”
“Stand down.”
Airak walked slowly forward.
The wolf-skin cloak rippled in the wind.
Valkar’s massive shadow fell across Airak’s diminutive frame. A bear and a child—so vast the difference in size. Yet the momentum flowed in the opposite direction.
Airak came to a stop and… looked up at Valkar.
His eyes held neither feeling nor mercy—only death itself.
Valkar nearly stumbled backward.
‘What is this gaze?’
Primal fear.
Goosebumps rose across his spine.
……
Airak raised his hand and tapped his own worn, frayed wolf-skin cloak.
“I’ve heard bear hide is rare in the North Sea.”
Whisper.
The Curved Blade sang from his belt. Though he had not yet drawn it, the sword’s cry split the Snow Plain.
“Perfect timing. It’s about time I changed out of these clothes.”
Airak’s mouth curved upward in a smile.
Valkar’s face twisted.
It was no mere provocation.
That monster was looking at him now not as a warrior, but as prey.

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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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