The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 103

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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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A Mad Swordsman Returns – Chapter 103

Things were falling apart.
That’s what Lee Su-ho thought.
Lately, the plans he had carefully laid out continued to unravel in ways that were becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

‘When did it start?’

After pondering for a while, a specific moment came to mind.
Yes, it must have been from the 【Lord Hunt】 onwards.
When he had attempted to hunt down the Lord of War, who had been utterly defeated by his own Lord, Achiros, only to let her slip away in the end.
From that point onward, everything had continued to spiral out of control.

‘I’ve been failing repeatedly at the tasks the Lord entrusted to me.’

He had even failed at the recruitment order Achiros had issued.
Jung Ye-hun, whose limbs had been shattered by Han Yu-sung, had ultimately become crippled.
Of course, the body could be healed given enough time.
The real problem was that his mind had completely shattered.
He had faced unbearable pain and terror.
Lee Su-ho recalled the face of a certain man.

“Han Yu-sung….”

Crack!

Not only had he reduced his trusted subordinate to a cripple, but this man had also stolen the spotlight that should have been his with his unexpected performance at the National Inter-Country Tournament.
No, the attention itself didn’t matter.
The problem was that because of him, his plans had crumbled.

“Lee Su-ho, sir. The support for the Alliance Leader continues to soar with each passing day. Now that it’s known that you made the greatest contribution to having Han Yu-sung participate in this National Inter-Country Tournament, public opinion….”

The Alliance Leader, Jain, was in an extremely precarious position.
Lee Su-ho had planned to exploit that. Now it was all ruined.
This too was because of Han Yu-sung’s emergence.
How would this current situation appear to Achiros?
What impact would it have on him as he competed for the position of Apostle?

“This reward Dungeon must be ours.”
“…Yes, Lee Su-ho.”

A reward Dungeon called the 【Tomb of the Lord】.
Achiros displayed considerable interest in this Dungeon.

[“Seize the Tomb of the Lord.”]
[“There will surely be rewards that benefit me.”]

He had even sent a separate message to emphasize the point.
Lee Su-ho, who had suffered failure after failure, could not afford to fail this time.
I had to succeed in conquering the Tomb of the Lord.
To do that, I needed to eliminate the most troublesome obstacle.

“Find Han Yu-sung inside the Dungeon and kill him. The internal structure is unknown, but with your abilities, it should be possible.”
“I will do as you command.”

Han Yu-sung would certainly have come to conquer the reward Dungeon.
I had brought subordinates with abilities related to ‘exploration’ to interfere with him.
While my subordinates engaged Han Yu-sung and bought time, I would conquer the reward Dungeon.
And.

‘I will take one step closer to the position of Apostle.’

A deep rumble echoed through the air.

The portal floating in the sky began to open.
And moments later.

[Entering the 【Tomb of the Lord】.]

All players who had registered for participation were transported into the Dungeon.

* * *

Han Yu-sung’s eyes opened.
Before me lay the vast interior of a Temple.
Yet it was ruined in places, and an ominous light suffused the entire space.
And several other players were visible around me.

“Is this… like a Dungeon Lobby?”
“What? Why am I alone here? I came with my party.”
“Su-yeon! Su-yeon! Where are you? Answer me if you can hear me!”

The count was roughly several hundred people.
Some had formed parties before entering, but they’d all been scattered.

‘They must have been summoned at different starting points.’

It was common for Dungeons to have multiple starting points.

“Damn, looks like we’ll need to search separately.”
“At least the two of us were summoned together. We should count our blessings.”
“Huh? Wait, that person over there…”

The players’ gazes, which had been scanning their surroundings, fixed on one spot.
It was where Han Yu-sung stood.
His face seemed somehow familiar.
The players searched their memories and realized who he was.

“Wait, Han Yu-sung?”
“We ended up in the same Lobby as him?”
“If that’s the case…”

The light in the players’ eyes shifted.
Who was Han Yu-sung?
He had demonstrated tremendous prowess in countless trials, and in the National Inter-Country Tournament, he had shown nothing short of extraordinary performance.
He was undoubtedly the hottest player in Korea right now.

‘If we just follow Han Yu-sung, that’s all we need to do, right?’
‘If we just follow him well, it seems like he’ll handle everything for us.’
‘If we play this right, we might be able to catch a ride through this…’

Such thoughts were inevitable.
The idea of following Han Yu-sung and scrounging for scraps.
Sensing their intentions, I clicked my tongue inwardly.

‘I wish this Dungeon were that simple.’

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.
At that very moment, a deafening roar echoed from somewhere.
It sounded like a heavy door grinding open.

[Grave robbers, come this way.]

“G-grave robbers?”
“It’s talking about us, right?”

This Dungeon’s name was the Tomb of the Lord.
It seemed the Dungeon regarded the players who entered as grave robbers.
Soon, a faint light materialized in the air, guiding the players forward.
While the others exchanged uncertain glances, Han Yu-sung took the lead and moved ahead.

‘Will it be alright?’
‘Who knows. As long as we follow that man, things should work out, right?’

The players began following Han Yu-sung.
Clinging to the hope that he would guide them through this.
And among them were those harboring sinister intentions.

“You understand, don’t you? We move as ordered.”
“Yes. We’re fortunate. We were summoned to the same location as Han Yu-sung….”
“Right. If things go well, we might be able to eliminate him here.”

They were the Sworn Servants of Justice.
Those who had received orders from Lee Su-ho to find and kill Han Yu-sung.
They planned to follow Han Yu-sung while waiting for the perfect moment to strike from behind.
Death was forgiven in this place, so they wouldn’t actually die.

‘We can eliminate Lee Su-ho’s rival.’

Lee Su-ho was confident he could conquer the Dungeon with or without Han Yu-sung.
But he didn’t want to overlook even the slimmest possibility.
He had to secure this Dungeon’s rewards without fail.
The Sworn Servants of Justice followed Han Yu-sung as he pressed forward.

“Hmm, this place….”
“A vast Cavern, perhaps? It seems empty.”

The dim light led me to a Cavern devoid of anything.
If there was one distinguishing feature, it was the absurdly vast expanse.
The Cavern stretched out so broadly that one couldn’t discern where it ended.
As all the players arrived, the light burst with a sharp crack.
And a voice echoed from somewhere.

[You who dare to desecrate the Tomb of the Lord.]
[Those who would disturb the Lord’s eternal rest deserve to perish a hundred times over, yet the magnanimous Lord has deigned to permit you grave robbers to proceed.]
[However, conditions must be met.]

The players murmured at the voice’s words.
They instinctively sensed that these conditions would be far from ordinary.

[This place consists of three realms.]
[Those who enter the tomb must traverse these realms and prove themselves worthy.]
[The realms that await you are as follows.]
[First, Will. Second, Strength. Third, Conviction.]

“Three realms? Wait, the first realm is…?”
“Will? What does that even mean?”

The moment the players voiced their confusion—

BOOM!

A tremendous roar reverberated throughout the entire Cavern.
Everyone startled and glanced about, yet nothing appeared to have changed.
Only the vast, endless Cavern remained visible.

[This is the first realm, ‘Will’.]
[You must prove yourselves here. Without eyes that pierce through deception and an unwavering will, you cannot escape this place.]
[Only those who believe in themselves shall advance to the end.]

With those words, the voice vanished.
Words that seemed to herald the beginning of something.
The players immediately drew their weapons and surveyed their surroundings vigilantly, yet nothing transpired.
The air hung suffocatingly silent.

“Nothing? There’s nothing here at all?”
“They said they’d test my will, but what exactly are they testing?”
“That Cavern is unnecessarily vast, isn’t it? Perhaps they’re testing whether we have the will to reach the very end?”
“Does that make sense? It stretches endlessly—how could we possibly reach the end?”
“Well, we’d have to find a way….”

The players began debating what “will” actually meant.
Of course, it was nothing but a meaningless waste of time. There was no way an answer would emerge from such discussion.
Their gazes naturally converged on Han Yu-sung.

‘That’s right, we have Han Yu-sung!’
‘Han Yu-sung—surely a man like him knows something?’

Eyes brimming with anticipation pierced toward Han Yu-sung.
Han Yu-sung stood silent, his gaze fixed on something distant.

[What are you looking at so intently?]
‘No. Something feels like it’s here.’
[Something feels like it’s here? Hmm…?]

A peculiar sensation washed over me.
It was the same sensation I’d felt when the Lord of the Dead attacked before, when I searched for a path to destroy the barrier she had created.
That sensation gave Han Yu-sung a clue.

‘I think I roughly understand what’s waiting ahead.’

And how to overcome it as well.
Han Yu-sung began striding forward with purpose.

“Huh? Huh? He’s moving?”
“W-we should follow him, shouldn’t we?”
“No, shouldn’t we discuss this first… Hey! Let’s go together!”

The players hurried after him in desperation.
Han Yu-sung paid them no mind.
He understood well that in a Dungeon designed to test players, one could not advance by relying on others or simply following along.
And the moment everyone had progressed a certain distance into the vast Cavern.

Ssssshhhhh….

An otherworldly, intangible energy bloomed from all directions.
The players couldn’t even perceive it.
Only Han Yu-sung, blessed with exceptional mana sensitivity, could detect it.
A chilling aura brushed across the players’ skin.

“What, what is this? Suddenly I’m getting goosebumps….”
“You too? For some reason, it feels like the temperature dropped.”

The players following Han Yu-sung at the front trembled.
The intangible energy slowly, yet deeply, burrowed into their consciousness.
Their vision blurred, and the surrounding landscape began to distort.
When a player who couldn’t endure it squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again.

ROOOAAARRR!

“Gasp, gasp! What is this! Enemies! Monsters suddenly…!”

Everything had changed.
The empty Cavern had transformed into a tangled Labyrinth, and the comrades beside them had vanished without a trace.
In their place stood creatures of horrific form.

“Don’t come! I told you not to come! Where did everyone go, damn it…!”
– SHRIEEEEK!

The creatures shrieked sharply and lunged forward.
The player swung his weapon in panic, and the creatures responded with even fiercer attacks.
Screams filled with terror, the sharp clash of metal,
The entire Labyrinth was consumed by the roar of Battlefield.

Before long, the player was fighting with everything else forgotten.
Why he was in the Labyrinth, where these creatures came from, why his comrades were nowhere to be seen—all forgotten, driven only by the instinct to survive.
And.
The ‘creatures’ were no different.

“B-brother? Why are you here…!”
“Aaahhh! Monsters! Monsters everywhere! Where did everyone go!”
“Cough! You, you… why are you….”
“Where is this place? It’s so dark! I can’t see anything!”

Without even knowing what they were fighting,
they clashed and bled against the ‘enemies’ visible only to themselves.
Only Han Yu-sung gazed directly upon ‘reality’ among them all.

“So this is what was waiting….”

There were no monsters, no Labyrinth.
The players in the Cavern shrouded by mist-like energy turned their weapons upon one another, fighting as if to kill.
A frenzy of battle in its purest form.

“An illusion, then.”
[Hmm, quite the spectacle….]

The players had fallen prey to hallucinations.
Some mistook each other for monsters and fought, others suffered the resurgence of trauma and anguish, still others trembled in fear as their nightmares materialized.
Everyone except Han Yu-sung wandered lost within the grip of illusion.

[‘Heart of the Dragon’ resists the hallucination for a time.]

Han Yu-sung’s safety was thanks to the skill’s effect.
But even that was not absolute.

‘A powerful illusion. I won’t be able to endure it for long.’
[What will you do? If you wish, I could slap your cheek repeatedly once you fall into the hallucination. Though it would be pointless!]

Han Yu-sung dismissed Kakasha’s nonsense lightly.
An illusion so potent that even an SS-rank skill could not fully block it.
With no knowledge of where the Cavern ended, simply advancing would mean I too would succumb to the hallucination before long.
Then.

“I need only eliminate the source of the illusion.”

Han Yu-sung turned his head.
Toward the direction where his heart pointed—where he felt a strong ‘discord’.

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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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