The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 155

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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 155

My vision twisted.
Someone gripped my body and shook it violently—a sensation so profoundly unpleasant that it bordered on nauseating.
Then, gradually, all those sensations faded away.

“C-Chairman! Are you alright!”
“Everyone, protect the Chairman! Hurry!”

Maezato Rinzo opened his eyes.
The first thing that came into view were the faces of his subordinates.
Every single one of them bore expressions of panic and confusion.
What followed next was—

‘A ceiling… collapsing.’

The ceiling was grotesquely fractured, cracks spreading like a spider’s web.
The moment I saw it, memories of what had just transpired flooded back.
A portal that had swollen in an eerie manner. A bizarre, haunting cry.
And…

“Gaaaaahhh!”
“C-Chairman! Are you alright! Listen! Bring a potion!”
“What in the world is this…?”

Linjo looked around frantically.
The place where I stood appeared, at first glance, to be a Warehouse.
A warehouse with cracks spreading across its ceiling, walls, and floor.
And those cracks continued to expand in real time.

“Answer me. Where… where is this place? Could it be…!”
“…Inside the Sunken Treasure Vault, Chairman. In the Difficult Realm.”
“The Difficult Realm! You’re telling me I’m inside the Difficult Realm right now! How!”

I had never entered the Difficult Realm, nor had I any intention of doing so. How could this have happened?
No one could answer that question.
Everyone present was equally bewildered by the current situation.

“My apologies, Chairman. I’m afraid I don’t have detailed information either. All I can confirm is that we were forcibly dragged into the Difficult Realm.”
“If I had to guess, perhaps something has gone wrong within the Difficult Realm itself….”

Bewilderment was etched across the faces of my subordinates.
Everyone found this situation equally disconcerting. None of us had ever experienced being forcibly pulled into the Difficult Realm before.

“….”

Linjo looked around, at a loss for words.
The corpses of my subordinates lay scattered across the surrounding floor.

“What happened to those bodies?”
“Half of them were those guarding the entrance to the Difficult Realm. They entered here already dead. As for the other half….”

Just as my subordinate was about to answer my question.

A deep, resonant boom echoed through the space!

A sudden tremor shook everything around us.
The cracks that had formed throughout the area widened from the impact, swallowing those nearby into the abyss.

“Ugh, uaaaaaaah?!”
“No, please! Save me…!”

Beyond the cracks lay nothing. Only a void of absolute darkness.
Those swallowed disappeared into the bottomless chasm.
Those who witnessed this spectacle recoiled in horror.
And from beyond, a massive silhouette emerged from the Corridor.

[Intruders, detected.]
[Treasure, to, be, plundered.]

It was a being composed entirely of steel.
A Guardian, weathered and crumbling from long neglect, its form deteriorating in places.
Through the gaps, something grotesquely mangled and flesh-like was visible.
Its halting, fragmented utterances echoed ominously.
The Guardian’s crimson eyes locked onto the Zanwol Guild members.

[Everyone, die.]
[For the Lord…!]
“No, this won’t do! They’re attacking us!”
“Protect the Chairman! Form a defensive formation, damn it! All of you, even if it means dying here, you must escort the Chairman out of this place!”

Soon, the Guardians came rushing in.
The Zanwol Guild members gritted their teeth and began fighting them, while Linjo racked his brain with an anxious expression, searching for a way to break through this predicament.
And among them, only one person.

“….”

Ran alone caressed the pebble in her bosom with an expressionless face.
Waiting for the moment to arrive, her features cold and composed.

* * *

Just as the Zanwol Guild was facing off against the swarms of monsters.
Chu Gyu-il stood dazed, staring blankly at the spectacle unfolding before his eyes.
He had every reason to be.

Crash crash crash crash!

[Intrusion, screech, screech screech….]
[Fatal damage, activation, shutdown….]

Han Yu-sung was destroying countless Guardians single-handedly.
By rough count, there appeared to be at least twenty of them.
Creatures that would have been overwhelming for Chu Gyu-il to face alone.

“A m-monster….”

Chu Gyu-il muttered without thinking.
Witnessing Guardians made of metal harder than steel being pulverized by bare fists—there was no other way to describe it.
That man was a monster.
A genuine, bona fide monster!

‘Damn, if I hadn’t signed that contract earlier, I’d really be dead right now.’

Chu Gyu-il’s body trembled uncontrollably.
He couldn’t erase that frigid gaze and tone of voice from his memory.
This man was different from the Technicians of Zanwol.
Those men needed Chu Gyu-il alive, and they intended to keep him breathing until they extracted what they wanted.
But this one.

‘He was simply going to kill me.’

And he seemed to think that would be preferable.
Chu Gyu-il was perceptive by nature. The reason he had capitulated so quickly to Han Yu-sung, after enduring Zanwol’s interrogation for so long, was precisely this—the terror that this man would kill him without hesitation.
That primal fear was what broke him.

A resonant boom echoed through the passage.

In that instant, all the Guardians blocking the path collapsed.
Han Yu-sung’s ice-cold eyes fixed upon Chu Gyu-il.

“Show me the way.”
“Yes, of course. I know the path.”

Chu Gyu-il hastily followed Han Yu-sung, guiding him forward.
Han Yu-sung advanced deeper into the Difficult Realm, trusting his guide’s direction.

‘The most crucial objective is to eliminate Maezato Rinzo.’

This Difficult Realm was the stage for that purpose. If I allowed myself to be blinded by treasure and let Linzo slip away, it would be putting the cart before the horse.
Yet I had no intention of abandoning the ‘rare treasure’ either.
And that was precisely why I needed Chu Gyu-il.

“Wait, a trap! There’s a trap ahead!”
“That direction… according to my senses, it’s a dead end!”
“Hold on, there’s treasure here… damn it, there’s treasure here!”

The unique ability Chu Gyu-il possessed was called Greedy Sense (S+).
It was a multifaceted ability. Its primary effect granted him an intuitive awareness of the locations of rare items.
It also allowed him to detect traps.
And once he discovered a sufficient number of items, it would even reveal the location of a ‘hidden Difficult Realm’ where truly precious treasures lay concealed.

‘An absurdly overpowered ability. If there’s one problem with it…’

In exchange, it strips away combat ability.
All stats except agility decrease significantly, and numerical values like damage are greatly weakened. The same applies to offensive skills.
The exception is movement-based skills.
Skills like footwork techniques are actually enhanced, allowing for rapid movement.
In my past life, Chu Gyu-il tried to overcome that through “gear advantage.”
In the process, he threw caution to the wind and eventually died.

“Ugh, um. There are two paths. Which way should we go…?”
“That way. I sense something.”
“S-sense? Well, if that’s the case.”

In truth, finding Linjo wasn’t particularly difficult.
It would have been possible even without Chu Gyu-il. I had the pebble-like item I received from Ran, and my 【Predator’s Senses】.
Yet I brought Chu Gyu-il along for a different reason.

“You’re mapping as we go, right?”
“Y-yes, I’m mapping! Look! I’m recording everything without missing a thing!”

【Greedy Sense】 has the effect of creating a map.
It was an incredibly useful ability in complex maze-like places.
However, I decided to use this map for a different purpose.

“I sense a powerful presence over there. What do you think?”
“I-I can sense something too with my senses. It feels like a rare treasure…!”
“Record it on the map.”

Precisely—recording the locations of rare treasures.
This Difficult Realm is collapsing in real time.
It meant there was a time limit of sorts. I had to maximize the time given.

‘After killing Linjo, I’ll use the remaining time to gather treasures.’

Not just any treasure—only rare treasures.
Since they said these were treasures that couldn’t be discovered through ordinary means, they had to be valuable. Collecting just those would be sufficient.
I kicked off the ground.

Whoooosh!

How far had we progressed?
The pebble Han Yu-sung carried suddenly vibrated.
At the same moment, a faint presence was felt from a distant location.
And not just one—multiple presences.

“It seems I’ve found them.”
“What, what? Found what? Treasure?”

It was likely the presence of Linjo’s group.
Han Yu-sung fell into thought.
Their numbers were considerably larger than anticipated.
Dozens… no.
Perhaps even a hundred strong.

‘Fighting against that many would certainly be entertaining.’

The problem was that combat would inevitably drag on.
If they dug in their heels and allowed Linjo to escape, matters would become troublesome.
If possible, I wanted to eliminate even the slimmest variable.
To accomplish that….

“Chu Gyu-il. Does it seem like there’s treasure in that direction?”
“Huh? Yes, yes. There seems to be quite rare treasure over there…?”

Chu Gyu-il nodded, looking in the direction Han Yu-sung indicated.
A powerful presence was felt in the direction where the rare treasure lay.
Likely a formidable guardian protecting the treasure.

“I’ll need to create chaos.”
“What? No, what chaos? Damn it, explain yourself!”

Han Yu-sung moved swiftly alongside the pursuing Chu Gyu-il.
To ‘lure’ the guardians stationed at a slightly distant location.

* * *

“…Still nothing. Have you still not found an escape route?!”

A roar filled with fury echoed through the vast Cavern.
It was a shout from Maezato Rinzo. His subordinates, who had been protecting his side while dispatching the Guardians, bowed their heads apologetically.

“I-I’m terribly sorry, Chairman. We are searching for a way out, but….”
“The structure is like a maze, making it difficult. There are traps set throughout, so if we move carelessly, things will only become more dangerous.”
“Damn it!”

Linjo bit his lip anxiously.

“Can the Difficult Realm truly swallow people whole!”

Had anyone known of this situation, they would have said this:
He had been far too careless. How could someone with no great confidence in personal combat strength presume to command an assault?
He should never have set foot anywhere near the Difficult Realm in the first place….
Had Linjo heard those words, he would have erupted in fury.

‘I have never faced a situation like this…!’

And it was true.
At this time, knowledge of the Difficult Realm’s “rampage” had not yet spread widely.
Especially not that the Difficult Realm could swallow those around it.
How could one prepare for something that had never occurred?
He had prepared means of escape in case of unforeseen circumstances.
But being pulled into the Difficult Realm was a situation beyond his calculations.

‘And those corpses….’

In the Cavern where Linjo first opened his eyes, there were the bodies of his subordinates.
Half of them were those who had been guarding the entrance to the Difficult Realm.

‘They said they entered this place already dead. That means….’

Someone had killed them outside the Difficult Realm.
In that moment, one possibility flashed through his mind.

‘Could it be that he did this to the Difficult Realm?’

But was such a thing even possible?
Linjo recalled the sight he had witnessed before becoming trapped in this place.
Was it truly possible for a mere human to create such a horrific spectacle?
He bit his lip once more.

“…We just need to escape this place, no matter what. Move!”
“Yes, Chairman!”

Uncovering the truth could wait until after we escaped this Cavern.
Linjo and his subordinates began searching for an exit.
It was at that very moment.

Kuuuuuung!

“Damn it, another Guardian?!”

A familiar tremor resonated throughout the Cavern.
We had already faced Guardians countless times.
The Zanwol Guild members drew their weapons and braced themselves for the Guardian that would soon appear.
But this time, something was different.
More precisely, the appearance of the Guardian that emerged.

[Those who covet treasure….]
“That, that is…?”

A monster with countless arms, its body mostly composed of steel.
A Guardian unlike any we had seen before raised its head.
Its crimson eyes turned toward the Zanwol Guild members.

[All, shall perish!]
“Is, is it a boss monster?!”
“Damn it, what in the world is happening… Form ranks! Quickly!”

Though startled by the sudden turn of events, they faced only one enemy.
The Zanwol Guild members quickly regained their composure.
They judged that if they formed proper ranks, they could certainly contend with it.
Had their assessment been correct—had the enemy truly been ‘one’—that would have been the case.

Whoooosh!

“…!”

Fierce flames erupted skyward.
The sound came not from the front where the Guardian stood, but from the Rear.
Linjo spun around in shock.
What met his eyes was.

“How delightful to meet you face-to-face like this.”

Han Yu-sung, casting off the shadows that had enveloped his entire form.
A domain of roaring flames consumed the vast Cavern, and armies of ash began rising from every corner.
Han Yu-sung laughed as he watched Linjo stare back at him with wide, astonished eyes.

“Maezato Rinzo. You die here.”

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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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