North Sea Martial Arts Warrior - Chapter 12

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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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12. Ten Blades

Ailak lowered the Mangokhdo, letting the blade hang slack at his side.
The tip nearly grazed the snow, wavering just above it.
“Your last words.”
A brief utterance.
Balkar’s brow furrowed.
“What?”
“Leave them. A man of your stature deserves to speak before he falls.”
…….
Balkar’s laughter ceased.
It wasn’t mockery. Ailak’s face was utterly grave. The eyes of a wolf—no bloodlust visible, yet Balkar felt it nonetheless: this clash would decide everything between life and death.
Balkar muttered softly.
“You’ll kill me?”
“Yes.”
“Ha! That’s rich—”
“It’s not rich, and you know it. You’re going to die. So if there’s something you want to say, say it. One of the Northern Sea’s strongest deserves that much respect in his final hour.”
Balkar’s laughter died completely.
A chill traced down his spine.
‘Those eyes.’
He means it. No lies, no bluster. Those are the eyes of a butcher who has already marked his prey and is readying the knife.
“…You’re not joking.”
The contemptuous smile faded from Balkar’s lips.
“Fine. If that’s how you want it.”
He dropped into a lower stance.
Every muscle in his body swelled with power.
Crack. Thud.
The leather of his Iron Leather Armor pulled taut, gleaming with a deep blue luster.
“I’ll give you my all.”
Shhring.
Balkar drew an enormous blade from his back—the Great Force Blade.
The spine of the sword alone was three finger-widths thick. The length stretched five feet. A weapon only a giant could wield.
Drawing that blade meant he’d made peace with death. Balkar had never seen anyone survive after unsheathing the Great Force Blade—neither himself nor his opponent.
“Hooooah!”
Balkar drew in a breath.
The ambient energy scattered through the air was sucked into his core.
“Come and kill me!”
Balkar stamped the ground.
Boom!
The earth erupted beneath him as he charged forward.
The Great Force Blade cleaved through empty air. It was a simple downward strike, yet its force approached that of a natural calamity.
In that instant, blue vapor rose from every inch of Ailak’s body.
“……!”
Balkar’s eyes widened.
‘What is that?’
Cold. But not ordinary cold. An absolute, crystalline blue light enveloped Ailak—a chill that seemed capable of freezing even the very currents of the air itself.
Northern Sea Ice Divine Art Form 8: Ice Binding Realm.
The temperature around him plummeted. Balkar’s breath froze white. Snowflakes hung suspended in the air as if time had slowed. An illusion—or so it seemed. But it was no illusion. Only the space around Ailak had transformed into an entirely different world.
Pop!
Ailak vanished.
“What! Where!”
Balkar roared.
Not even an afterimage remained. No sensation, no killing intent, no aura of any kind. He was simply gone. Yet Balkar’s instincts screamed—danger was coming from somewhere.
“Behind!”
He twisted his body with pure reflex.
But he was too slow.
Swoosh.
The first sound rang out.
“One.”
Ailak murmured softly.
Splurt!
A geyser of blood erupted from Balkar’s right shoulder.
“Ahhh!”
Balkar shrieked and twisted his body.
“How… how is this possible!”
He couldn’t believe it.
The leather of the Iron Leather Armor—that absolute defense that had repelled even blade energy—split apart like tofu.
“Extreme Yin Ice. A blade honed to absolute zero pierces the oil film on your skin. Do not trust the leather.”
Ailak spoke without emotion.
“You… you bastard!”
Balkar swung the Great Force Blade. But Ailak was already gone.
“Two.”
The thigh—a brilliant flash.
Balkar’s thick thigh was cleaved halfway through. Blood fountained out.
“Noooo!”
“Three.”
The belly… a long horizontal gash.
“Four. Five.”
Forearm and calf.
“Six.”
The flank.

* * *

“…Insane. Look at that—just look—he’s slicing through the leather like it’s paper!”
Harku, watching from a distance, gaped.
“…….”
Taikan said nothing.
It was too fast. His eyes couldn’t follow Ailak’s movements.
“Seventh cut.”
Garkan muttered.
“What?”
“The number of times the tribe leader has struck. That’s the seventh.”
“How are you counting?”
“By the spurts of blood.”
Arko swallowed hard.
“…Is that really our tribe leader?”
“It is.”
Garkan nodded.
“A blade refined in the Extreme Yin Ice for thirty years.”
“…It’s terrifying.”
“It should be. Be grateful he’s not our enemy.”

* * *

“Aaaahhh!”
Balkar thrashed in agony and drove the Great Force Blade into the ground.
Boom!
A shock wave erupted. But Ailak was already airborne.
“Seven.”
A diagonal slash drawn while falling through the air—Balkar’s back split clean open.
“Eight. Nine….”
When the tenth cut was finished.
Ailak stood ten paces behind Balkar’s back.
Click.
The Mangokhdo slid into its sheath.
That sound was the signal.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh…!
Blood vessels burst across Balkar’s body all at once.
His right arm hung in tatters, his thigh shattered. His belly split open, spilling his entrails across the snow. His entire frame lay torn and shredded—he looked as though he’d been hacked to pieces by dozens of blades.
“Keh… hgh…!”
Balkar tried to brace himself with the Great Force Blade as a crutch. But it wasn’t enough.
Thud.
That massive body sank to its knees.
“…Is this.”
Balkar spat blood-tinged saliva.
“This the blade of a Northern Sea Combat Warrior.”
“Yes.”
Ailak turned back.
Cold, silent eyes… Ailak raised the Mangokhdo.
“Your soul to darkness. Your blood to earth.”

A mark of respect for the Northern Sea’s greatest.
Even an enemy—a strong enemy is a strong enemy.
The Ailak Tribe speaks these words to the powerful foe.
Balkar laughed, coughing blood.
“…You understand. Yes, end it as a wolf would. Do you have any last words?”
“……….”
Balkar laughed. His face drenched in blood.
“I do.”
“Speak.”
“…Thirty years ago.”
Balkar forced his lips open.
“When I met my master, I thought…”
“……….”
“If I could just defeat this man, I would be the strongest in the Northern Sea.”
“And then?”
“I couldn’t. My master ran away.”
Balkar spat blood.
“So I waited for you. For ten years.”
“……….”
“In this Northern Sea, among those left… you… no matter how many others I defeat… they won’t acknowledge me. As the strongest. That’s right. In this Northern Sea… you must pass through the gate called Northern Sea Combat Warrior to…”
Balkar’s eyes wavered.
“Is that all?”
“…The Three Cold Ice Masters are three.”
Balkar lifted his head with effort.
“I am the weakest of them.”
“To me, you’re all the same.”
“…What?”
“What’s the point in lesser ones sorting out the strong from the weak among themselves… it’s meaningless.”
Ailak shrugged his shoulders.
Balkar fell silent.
His last words had held no meaning to this man.
“Then… kill them too.”
Balkar laughed, coughing blood.
“The Extreme Night Ghost Wolf Path and the Frozen Earth Ice Tiger Path. Kill them all.”
“How unfortunate.”
“Hahaha! Hahaha!”
Balkar’s eyes clouded as the laughter poured from him. And before that final laugh could escape, he toppled forward.
Dull thud.
The Snow Mountain Roamer, Balkar.
The First Beast of the Northern Sea drew his last breath beneath the wolf’s fangs.
Ailak looked down at Balkar’s fallen form.
He was strong. That much I grant. But that was all he was.
‘Karani.’
A stone in the path to those who killed her—Balkar was nothing more and nothing less than that.
“…It’s over.”
Harku murmured.
“I never thought something that massive would crumble like that. I figured it’d hold out for at least a few more exchanges.”
Taikan shook his head.
“Ten cuts. Exactly ten. Each one aimed at a vital point. Shoulder, thigh, abdomen, forearm, calf, flank, back…. If something didn’t collapse after taking hits like that, it would be abnormal.”
“Were you keeping count the whole time?”
“Habit.”
Ailak drove the Mangokhdo into the snow.
The bloodied blade froze in the northern wind.
He intoned quietly.
“The hunt is ended. The wolf returns.”
(Ashan-oulhan. Borkan nar.)
Garkan knelt and answered.
“To light.”
(Nar.)
Taikan, Arko, and Harku joined in unison.
“To light.”
It was not a ceremony of victory. It was the rite of the Ailak Tribe, sending the soul of the fallen enemy onward.
A wolf does not despise its prey. After the kill, it shows respect.
“Chieftain.”
Garkan knelt.
“Your labor is complete.”
……
Ailak lifted his head.
His gaze turned to the distant ridge of Snow Mountain.
“There.”
“Sir?”
“A little rat is hiding.”

* * *

At the same moment, five leagues distant from the battlefield, on a ridge of Snow Mountain.
A man in white camouflage, buried in the snow, was trembling.
Bingying, the secret scout unit of Bing Palace.
“S-Scout Leader.”
The subordinate beside him whispered.
“Is that…really him?”
“Shut up.”
The Scout Leader clenched his teeth.
He could not lower the Thousand-Li Scope in his hands.
“Balkar is…dead. He’s dead.”
The subordinate’s voice shook.
“Shouldn’t we run?”
“Run? Where?”
The Scout Leader gave a bitter laugh.
“Does that thing not see us?”
……
“We’re hidden five leagues away…but he knows. He was looking right at us.”
“Then why isn’t he coming?”
“Too lazy.”
The Scout Leader swallowed.
“He’s not bothered enough to walk five leagues just to catch a rat.”
“We have to send word.”
The Scout Leader drew out a messenger pigeon.
His hands shook so badly it took a long time to tie the knots.

[First Beast Balkar, deceased.
Combat duration, less than one moment.
One-sided slaughter.
Northern Sea Combat Warrior cannot be stopped.
Second Beast, Third Beast—warn them.]

Whoosh.
A white hawk took flight.
The Scout Leader watched the bird vanish toward Bing Palace, then released a breath of relief.
“Good. Now we should—”
“Scout Leader!”
His subordinate screamed.
“Behind! Behind us!”
“What?”
The Scout Leader turned.
Garkan stood there, his eyes gleaming cold and still.
“When—how long have you—”
“Just now.”
Garkan tilted his head slightly.
“I wasn’t planning to come. But once you released the bird, I had no choice.”
“I… I didn’t—”
“Never mind. You were dead the moment you arrived.”
The Scout Leader fumbled for his blade. But before his hand could close around the hilt—
Slash. Slash.
Two heads flew from their bodies at once.
Garkan watched the heads roll past, then looked up at the sky.
The direction the messenger pigeon had flown.
“So there really is vermin in Bing Palace. As the clan leader would say… we’ve found another clue. Someone who can move Bingying itself.”
He muttered to himself.
“It’s unfortunate, but I can’t change course now. The Lord of Bing Palace’s revenge takes priority.”
A blizzard swept across the wasteland.
Wind reeking of blood drove northward.

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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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