The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 14

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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 14

A hunting dog. Jung Seo-hyun.
A player who had been Lee Su-ho’s confidant in my previous life.
She had served as Lee Su-ho’s hunting dog, eliminating those who stood in his way.
It seemed she was doing the same in this era as well.

“….”

Jung Seo-hyun hung limply against the wall, embedded in stone.
With blood trickling from her mouth and her head drooping, she appeared unmistakably dead or unconscious from a fatal wound.
But I knew the player Jung Seo-hyun well.

‘She’s playing dead, waiting for me to approach.’

Planning to counterattack and finish me off if I let my guard down.
And I had reason to be certain she was alive.
The additional reward for the trial hadn’t been granted yet.

“That dagger looks quite expensive. I could fetch a good price for it.”

I muttered this as I approached Jung Seo-hyun.
At the same time, I gathered mana, ready to activate a skill at any moment.
The distance between us narrowed steadily. As it approached zero and I bent down to claim the dagger, the moment came.

“Die, you bastard!”

A vicious cry accompanied the flash of steel.
The blades Jung Seo-hyun had been concealing shot forth from her feigned corpse.
Two daggers wreathed in shadow blurred into darkness. They aimed for my throat from a blind spot I couldn’t react to.
A killing blow. Impossible to evade or block.
That was Jung Seo-hyun’s certainty.

Shhhhk!

“What—!”

Before the Blood Wind Legacy could unfold.
The howling gale drove back Jung Seo-hyun’s daggers.
Jung Seo-hyun stared at her retreating blades with disbelief in her eyes.
A curse spilled from her lips.

“Damn it…!”

Crack!

Those were Jung Seo-hyun’s final words.
Han Yu-sung gazed down at the lifeless Jung Seo-hyun with cold eyes.

‘Should I call myself fortunate to have dealt with her now?’

I had eliminated one troublesome player ahead of schedule.
The additional rewards that followed proved Jung Seo-hyun’s death.

[You have successfully defeated a special powerhouse.]
[You have satisfied the activation condition for the unique ability ‘Incarnation’.]
[Additional rewards have been granted.]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Shadow of Night (A, Lv.1)’.]

Demon Incarnation and Incarnation had always provided additional rewards whenever I defeated a special powerhouse or overcame trials that would have been nearly impossible at my current level.
In the case of monsters, this meant boss monsters or named monsters.
However, with players, the criteria were somewhat ambiguous.

‘It wasn’t simply about defeating a strong player.’

Literally, a ‘special’ powerhouse.
Even I didn’t know what defined that ‘specialness’.
Still, I could make educated guesses from my experience in my previous life.

‘Players who would leave significant marks on the future.’

Jung Seo-hyun would gain considerable notoriety as a hunting dog in the future.
Lee Su-ho goes without saying—he was a man whose life was so extraordinary that he had the opportunity to become a Star Lord. The mark he left on the future reflected that.
Rewards were only granted when I defeated such players.
Unlike with monsters, one might say the conditions were more demanding.
In exchange, the rewards were guaranteed to be substantial.

[Shadow of Night (A, Lv.1)]
· Classification: Active.
· Allows concealment of one’s body or weapon within shadow.
· When the skill is activated, if the enemy has not detected you, movement speed increases by 15% and damage of the next attack increases by 20%.

The skill rewards were particularly noteworthy.
When you defeated a player and obtained a skill reward, it tended to grant you the skill that person had used. Just like the Shadow of Night that Jung Seo-hyun wielded.
I closed the skill window.

“An unexpected reward makes it all the more satisfying.”

I gathered the items from Jung Seo-hyun and the other fallen.
If I left them, the Sworn Servants of Justice would simply claim them.

‘What good is a Lord’s favor anyway?’

Most Lords showed little interest in their servants.
What they cared about was the coins their servants brought in. A Lord favored a particular servant only because that servant generated substantial wealth.
That was why the Lords encouraged their servants to compete.
Competition escalated into sabotage, and even into murder.

‘That’s why I must seize control over the Lord.’

In my previous life, I had once made a contract with a Lord.
It was a contract made when I had no Demonic Sword and knew nothing of this world.
The Lord worked me like a slave, and that period was nothing short of hell.
Only after the Lord fell could I escape that torment.

‘After that, I lived without a Lord. But now….’

A Star Lord is necessary.
Without a Lord, one begins God’s Trial with severe penalties. There are systems that can only be accessed with a Lord’s backing.
Growth speed also slows dramatically. In my previous life, I could keep pace because I possessed the Demonic Sword, but for an ordinary player, such progress would be impossible.
And most importantly.

“To face Achiros, I need a Star Lord.”

In my previous life, Achiros possessed formidable Sworn Servants of Justice.
Achiros sent his servants forward and resolved countless God’s Trials.
God’s Trials bestow tremendous benefits upon the players and their Lords who contribute significantly to their resolution.
Achiros experienced rapid growth through the benefits he obtained this way.

‘I will claim those rewards for myself.’

Not to Achiros, but to another Lord.
To the Lord whose leash Han Yu-sung held in his grasp.

‘Without fail.’

Han Yu-sung crossed over the collapsed metal door and entered the Cavern.
At the center of the Cavern stood an Altar, and above it hovered a rusted blade.

[You have discovered a Sacred Artifact: Flames of War.]
[For reasons unknown, an intense presence emanates from within it.]

Sacred Artifacts.
Items imbued with a Lord’s power, they possess special effects. Such artifacts grow stronger according to the power their Lord possesses, and are typically bestowed upon the Sworn Servants of Justice whom the Lord holds most dear.
The blade before my eyes was precisely such an artifact.

“How pathetic.”

Such was Han Yu-sung’s assessment upon seeing the blade.
Sacred Artifacts reflect their Lord’s power. I suspected it might be a blade that ignites flame, yet now it had dimmed like smoldering ash after a fire.
It meant the Lord of War had grown that much weaker.

[Who… are you?]

Han Yu-sung walked slowly toward the artifact.
Then a feeble voice emerged from the artifact.

[Are you… one of my sworn servants?]

It was a voice that seemed as though it would fade away like the blade itself.
The voice of the Lord of War contained within the artifact.
Han Yu-sung shook his head firmly.

“No. I am Han Yu-sung. Your Sworn Servants have all been hunted down.”
[…So that is the case. An unfamiliar name.]

The voice, already fading like dying embers, grew even quieter.
A deep sigh echoed through the empty Cavern.
All the loyal Sworn Servants she had left behind without severing the contract were dead. She understood perfectly what that meant.

[Are you… a Sworn Servant of another Lord? If so, rejoice. If you offer me, that Lord will reward you greatly.]
“I have no contracted Lord.”
[…No contracted Lord?]

Doubt colored the weakened voice.
How did a human with no contracted Lord arrive here? And why?
Multiple questions surfaced in the Lord of War’s mind.

[Then, who are you? And why have you come to this place?]
“I came to make you an offer you cannot refuse, Lord of War.”
[An offer?]

Han Yu-sung’s hand moved slowly.
My blood-stained hand grasped the sacred object, now reduced to ash-like embers.
A faint warmth transmitted through my palm.

“Before I speak of the offer, I have something to ask you.”
[….]

The Lord of War fell silent, as if granting permission.
I needed to understand what kind of being this Lord was before making my proposal.
Whether she was worthless, like the other Lords.
Or whether she possessed even a shred of value.

“Why did you flee? The other Lords spoke of you—a coward with ten thousand tails, they said, who ran rather than face death with honor.”
[Hmph, a bitter truth.]
“You don’t deny it?”

The Lord of War had been defeated in her war against Achiros.
She severed her contract with the Sworn Servants of Justice and fled to survive, hiding herself within a sacred relic in the Abandoned Dungeon—a pathetic state of affairs.
The Lords despised her for failing to live up to her epithet of War.
Han Yu-sung felt the same way. That’s why he wanted to ask.
Why had she fled while bearing such infamy?

[I fled because I sought an opportunity.]
“An opportunity? What kind of opportunity are you talking about?”
[An opportunity to take revenge on the Lord of Justice….]

The Lord’s voice suddenly grew faint.
It seemed she was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain her existence.

[As a mortal human, surely you understand? When you die, that’s the end. The chance to repay humiliation, the chance for revenge… all of it vanishes.]
“So you fled? To find an opportunity for revenge?”
[Yes. As long as I live, no matter what infamy I bear, someday… an opportunity will come. Through another war, I can overturn everything….]

I can reverse it all.
Han Yu-sung had once been the same.
When Lee Su-ho revealed his true nature and killed every player who participated in the trial, Han Yu-sung alone survived.
Having survived there, Han Yu-sung grew stronger to take revenge on Lee Su-ho, and ultimately succeeded in exacting that revenge.

‘There are more similarities than I expected.’

Just as Han Yu-sung harbored a deep thirst for revenge against Lee Su-ho, the Lord of War too carried a profound desire for vengeance against Achiros.
A Lord who had borne every infamy and fled in pursuit of revenge.

‘If a lifeline falls right before her, she won’t refuse it.’

It was impossible to force a covenant using the Quill of Oath.
A covenant could only be formed if the other party was willing. Had the Lord of War been resigned to death, it would have been impossible to bind her.
With a thirst for revenge of that magnitude.

‘I can form a covenant with her.’

Besides, the Lord of War was beginning to appeal to me.
I had intended merely to hold her leash and control her, but perhaps she could serve as a genuine partner instead.
Though I would still hold that leash.

[But….]

At that moment, a despondent voice emanated from the sacred relic.
A voice devoid of any will or desire.

[What meaning could there be now? I shall… simply fade away. Defeated in war, having sacrificed my soldiers, for that sin….]
“How many coins are needed to maintain your existence?”
[What? Why would you….]
“Answer me. We don’t have time.”

The presence emanating from the sacred relic was weakening.
And from not far away, I heard footsteps.
The Sworn Servants of other Lords, having breached the entrance, were approaching.
Time was running short.

[With 50,000 coins, I could prevent my existence from crumbling. My form would persist, though stripped of all power….]
“And if you could obtain an additional 30,000 coins from there?”
[That amount would… provide me a foundation to rise again.]

It was precisely the sum I had anticipated.
Coins I had extracted from the Lord of Knowledge—hardly a loss to part with.
If I could enslave the Lord of War bearing that burden instead of spending them.

‘An extraordinarily profitable transaction.’

I reached into empty air.
What I grasped was the Quill of Covenant.

[That is… something the Lord of Knowledge possessed…?]
“Don’t you wish to take revenge on the Lord of Justice?”
[Revenge? If it were possible, I would do so at any moment….]
“I offer you that chance. I shall give you 80,000 coins.”

80,000 coins.
Upon hearing that sum, the Lord of War caught her breath in astonishment.
A rope descending from heaven into a situation where she had abandoned all hope.
And in that same moment, she understood.
The price of grasping this rope would be far from trivial.

[…What is the price?]
“Obedience.”

Han Yu-sung extended the quill of the covenant and laughed.

“Just as the Sworn Servants of Justice obey the Lords, obey me.”

It was a laugh that the Lord of War could not help but sense as ominous.

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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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