The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 40

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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 40

Deep within the Snake Ruin lies a boss monster.
Its lower half is serpentine, while its upper body contorts into a twisted human form.
Its name is the Fallen Poison King—a man who once commanded a prosperous martial sect, only to be seduced by forbidden temptation and reduced to this grotesque abomination.
And in the end, he became nothing more than a plaything for the Lords.
Right now, that creature was—

[Shhhhhhhhhhk!]

Taking a relentless barrage of attacks without reprieve.
The Boss Chamber where the Poison King dwelled was a toxic wasteland rivaling Route 10 itself.
Ceiling, walls, floor—every surface drenched in venom. For an ordinary player, survival here would be nearly impossible.

[To think someone would face the Poison King like that.]
[He’s not even concerned about the poison. Does he feel no fear?]
[It appears he’s invested heavily in poison resistance, but…]

There, Han Yu-sung closed the distance to the Poison King as though the toxins meant nothing, unleashing a torrent of devastating strikes.
Yet poison was still accumulating in his body.

[You know as well as I do. The Poison King possesses a skill that ignores poison resistance to a certain degree. Even with resistance built up, you can’t block it completely.]
[True enough. Besides, a player at this tier can only build so much poison resistance before hitting a wall…]

Han Yu-sung carried multiple poison resistance items.
Having consumed Il-dok’s Inner Elixir, his resistance had risen to new heights.
Yet even these couldn’t completely negate the poison.
No matter what he did, the venom would accumulate. So then—

[I never thought a player would actually choose this strategy.]
[Is it courage or recklessness?]
[What’s even more astounding is—]

Kill the Poison King before the poison fully spreads.
That was Han Yu-sung’s judgment, and the Lords recognized exactly what he was thinking.
A decision bold to the point of recklessness.
One that only someone with absolute confidence in their own strength could make.

[You’re saying that strategy is actually working, aren’t you?]
[Indeed. Purely through individual martial prowess.]

What was remarkable was that this judgment was proving correct.
The Fallen Poison King unleashed a miasma of poison throughout the surrounding area, firing venomous daggers toward Han Yu-sung.
Han Yu-sung’s choice in response was simple.

Whoooosh!

[This madman—has he lost his mind…!]

He deflected the daggers with a blood wind technique and pushed through the poison without hesitation.
Treading a footwork pattern across the miasma, Han Yu-sung closed the distance to the Fallen Poison King in an instant.
A fist technique unfolded from his fingertips, engulfing the Fallen Poison King.
His flesh tore apart, and a scream of shock pierced the air.

[The Fallen Poison King isn’t even managing a proper defense.]
[What did you expect? It would be different if he were still human, but after becoming that, his martial training has weakened considerably. Poison became his primary weapon.]
[Still, his physical abilities shouldn’t have deteriorated that much….]

In exchange for gaining the ability to produce potent poison as a monster, the Fallen Poison King lost more than half of the martial arts he had cultivated his entire life.
His body had changed. With his lower half transformed into a serpent, his physical conditions altered, and the martial techniques he once wielded as a human became useless.
Only the venomous dragon technique and dagger arts remained useful to him.
Yet the Fallen Poison King did not care.

[Cackhhhhh!]

With only the poison gained from becoming a monster, he could kill anyone.
What did it matter to lose martial arts? That was his belief.
Until this unbelievable situation unfolded.
The Lords watching the one-sided battle clicked their tongues.

[Who here wagered coins on that human?]
[How could anyone? We don’t even know who he is.]
[I wagered on that Japanese player. What a shame.]

None of the Lords present had wagered coins on Han Yu-sung.
The Lords who had wagered significant coins could only feel irritation. Meanwhile, those who had wagered modest amounts for entertainment found themselves in a different situation.
They were fixated on the players.

[He’s concealing his face with a mask. But… is that even possible?]
[Even we cannot see the face beneath the mask. It seems a cognition obstruction powerful enough to hide his identity from us is in effect.]
[Impossible. If that were possible…]

The Lords naturally arrived at the same conclusion.
There was only one item capable of such a feat.

[Mythic grade…!]
[Wasn’t this an event for Bronze and Silver tier participants? A player of such a tier possessing a Mythic grade item?]
[Impossible. Yet here it is, unfolding before our eyes.]

To obscure the gaze of the Lords, nothing short of Mythic grade would suffice.
How had such a being remained unknown until now?
The Lords exchanged bewildered glances. One of them fell into deep contemplation.

[Hmm, no. Wait… That martial technique…]

One Lord experienced a sudden sense of déjà vu.
The blood wind conjured by that technique—I’ve witnessed it before.
For one who took little interest in humans to experience such recognition meant the impression had been profound indeed. Had such a thing occurred recently?

[…The Consecutive Victory Tournament.]
[The event held previously? Why bring that up so suddenly?]
[Yes, the Bronze Consecutive Victory Tournament. I witnessed that technique there.]
[What did you witness?]

A nearby Lord asked with evident confusion.
But that was irrelevant. The question was why I remembered that technique. Because I had witnessed it at the previous Bronze Consecutive Victory Tournament.
There had been a player who achieved an undefeated streak in the tournament for the first time.
The Lords who observed it had been bewildered by his identity, and had attempted by every means to locate and recruit him.
In the end, they had failed to find him.

[Ha! I thought he was from the martial arts world, but he wasn’t?]

This Lord had been among them.
I had watched Han Yu-sung achieve his undefeated streak in the tournament, mistakenly believing him to be from the martial arts world, and had spent considerable time searching another realm.
Finding nothing despite exhaustive efforts, I had eventually given up.

[Now I understand. Finally, it makes sense. If that madman was running rampant at the Bronze Consecutive Victory Tournament, then his performance here is only natural.]
[You there, what are you muttering about all by yourself?]

A Lord chuckled to himself, his shoulders shaking with amusement.
The other Lords stared at him as though he were a peculiar specimen.
But the Lord paid them no mind. The situation fascinated him.
Besides, he hadn’t wagered much in coins anyway, so it mattered even less.

[Don’t you understand what’s happening? Then simply observe.]
[Observe? Observe what?]

The Lord pointed silently at the screen.
At a location some distance from where Han Yu-sung stood.
Someone was advancing, cutting down every player in sight.
It was Maezato Oju.

[From this moment forward, something truly fascinating will unfold….]

The Lord’s eyes gleamed with anticipation as they fixed upon the screen.
Without so much as a blink, he waited eagerly for the spectacle about to commence.

* * *

[Shhhhk… Kyaaaaaaagh!]

Flesh tore and bones shattered.
The Poison King shrieked in agony, unleashing a vicious toxin from his form.
Yet the human before him did not retreat—instead, he surged forward with renewed ferocity.

‘How is this possible!’

The Poison King found himself in a situation he had never encountered before.
A human who did not fear his poison!
Han Yu-sung had consumed multiple Poison King’s Inner Cores, pushing back the toxic miasma as he continued his assault.
The sight of it struck terror into the Poison King’s heart.

‘To consume so many Poison King’s Inner Cores…!’

The Poison King’s inner elixir causes severe side effects when consumed in large quantities.
Han Yu-sung couldn’t possibly be unaware of this. Yet the fact that he consumed it so boldly meant he could kill himself before the side effects took hold.

[Ugh, cough—hack!]

This was dangerous.
The Fallen Poison King observed the wounds accumulating in his own body and thought as much.
The human before him was far from unscathed. There were limits to how much poison he could expel using his inner elixir.
The poison continued to accumulate within him.
Someday the side effects of the inner elixir would erupt, and he would die from the poison.
The problem was.

‘At this rate, I’ll die before that happens.’

The Fallen Poison King was certain. If he were still human, if he could wield the martial arts he’d mastered his entire life, things would be different.
But for the Fallen Poison King now—a monster who had transformed to obtain stronger poison—an enemy who feared poison not at all was a formidable and troublesome adversary.

‘I must buy time. By any means necessary!’

Still, time was on the Fallen Poison King’s side.
If he could only drag out the battle somehow, the situation would change.
He had to use every means at his disposal.

[Come forth! Protect me, my disciples!]

All he had to do was endure!
With that judgment, the Fallen Poison King sent out his subordinates to buy time, then attempted to recover his body.
It was an entirely reasonable and logical decision.
Had his opponent been anyone but Han Yu-sung.

[Shiiiiick…!]
[Kyaaaaaaah!]

Poison disciples summoned from somewhere shielded the Fallen Poison King.
Han Yu-sung pulled out a staff from his spatial pouch as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
It was Shadow Bane.
And from that staff.

Kwaaarrrrr!

Shadows cascaded down, and the boundary of the abyss unfurled.
The surroundings were instantly drenched in darkness. My body dissolved and vanished, and the poison users began falling one by one.
The poison users, their lives extinguished, sank into the shadows.
The Fallen Poison King recoiled in horror at the sight.

A deafening roar tore through the air!

[Gaaahhhhh!]

A spear of the abyss pierced through his torso.
In that same instant, shadows surged upward. Half transformed into chains that bound the Fallen Poison King, while the remaining half became weapons that impaled his body.
With a thunderous crash, the Fallen Poison King was driven into the shadow-consumed ground.

[This cannot be… I am the Poison King, stronger than any poison….]

The Fallen Poison King desperately raised his head.
His eyes, stained with rage, humiliation, and shock, glared at Han Yu-sung.
Han Yu-sung, having reached the Fallen Poison King, raised his fist.
In that moment, the Fallen Poison King sensed something amiss.

[What are you looking at, you worm…?]

Han Yu-sung was not looking at the Fallen Poison King.
His attention was fixed elsewhere.
Beyond this chamber where the Fallen Poison King and I stood. As if something existed out there.
As if slaying him were nothing at all.

[Not me, but something else…!]

The Fallen Poison King felt an overwhelming sense of humiliation at this realization.
The shame of being reduced to an insect that could be disposed of at any moment. He tried to rise in fury, but Han Yu-sung’s fist was faster.
A whirlwind of blood tore through the Fallen Poison King’s limbs.

[Gaaahhhhh!]

“Stay still. I still have one more guest to attend to.”

[A, a guest… What nonsense are you spouting…!]

A presence draws near.
The presence of players. And among them, one aura stands out—distinctly powerful and savage.
There is no question whose presence it is.

CRASH!

The firmly sealed door burst wide open.
What emerged from beyond were players whose bodies bore the marks of brutal combat.
Judging by their equipment, they appeared to be rogues.
They surveyed the chamber, then exhaled a sigh of relief.
A sigh born of liberation—the sense that it was finally over.

SLASH!

“Ugh, hnngh….”
“Wh-why….”

A sword strike came from behind, cleaving through them.
The players’ bodies dissolved into light and vanished. Beyond them emerged a man gripping a blade drenched in blood.
The man brushed aside his blood-soaked hair and lifted his gaze.

“Answer me.”

Maezato Oju.
Eyes of glacial coldness fixed upon Han Yu-sung.
Yet Han Yu-sung understood.

“Who are you?”

That those eyes harbored a murderous intent bordering on madness.
An ordinary player would have frozen solid upon meeting such a gaze.
But such murderous intent was far too familiar to me.

“You’re later than I expected.”
“…What?”

Maezato Oju’s brow furrowed.
His tone carried the weight of someone who had been waiting.
Han Yu-sung sneered at him, tightening his fist aimed at the Fallen Poison King’s head.
And then.

“You’ve been waiting long enough. Don’t waste any more time.”

Crunch!

That was the end.
The Fallen Poison King was dead.
Consumed by the rage and humiliation of being disregarded.
And it was true. I could have killed him long ago, but I deliberately refrained, waiting for Oju to arrive.
My reason for doing so was simple.

“One last question. Who are you?”

It was to provoke Maezato Oju.
He had come here to clear the event and reverse the deteriorating public opinion of his nation.
No one had imagined he would fail.
Not even Achiros, who had contracted with him.
Since he never considered the possibility of failure, he likely hadn’t even come to watch the event.

“You ask who I am after seeing the mask?”
“You won’t answer? Fine, then….”

But Oju had failed, and that failure was irreversible.
Oju’s face twisted into the visage of a vicious murderer.

“I’ll carve off your limbs and extract the truth from you.”

Whoosh!

He lunged forward, unleashing blade energy. Three arcs of cutting force, sharp enough to cleave steel itself, surged toward Han Yu-sung.
Han Yu-sung unfolded Distortion and shifted his footwork.

Clang!

A shadow surged upward.
The shadow, transformed into a barrier, blocked the path of the sword auras. Naturally, its strength was woefully insufficient to stop them entirely.
But it was enough to twist their trajectories.
I hurled myself through the warped paths of those twisted auras.

‘Am I insane? No, those movements…’

Transformed into a fierce wind, I evaded the sword auras.
With minimal motion, displaying footwork that would be impossible unless I had perfect knowledge of the sword auras’ range.
I closed the distance to Maezato Oju’s face in an instant.
A fist shot forward with the sound of tearing air.

Whoooosh!

A blood-red wind whirled forth.
Through it, a fist was launched toward Maezato Oju’s face.
Maezato Oju twisted his body and swung his blade in a curved arc.
The sword traced a mysterious trajectory, deflecting the incoming fist.

“Hnn!”

Maezato Oju reversed the force contained in my fist, spinning his body as he unleashed a great swing of his blade infused with sword aura.
The blade traced a crescent moon’s arc, targeting my waist.
The motion of deflecting the opponent’s attack and flowing into a counterattack was as natural as water, swift, and simultaneously devastating.

‘The price of arrogance must be paid.’

Maezato Oju was certain.
The enemy before him could not respond to this blade strike.
Indeed, he wasn’t even reacting. With this, I’ll sever his waist, then tear his limbs apart.
That mask hiding his face too.
And after I steal the rewards he obtained.

‘Return to Earth, and that bastard…’

At that very moment, Maezato Oju experienced something strange.
Suddenly, as if an earthquake had struck, his vision shook violently, and the ground beneath him collapsed as if swallowing him whole.

‘What… is happening…?’

Han Yu-sung’s face, which had been right before me, suddenly receded into the distance.
As if he had grown taller, impossibly far away.
Had he used a skill? Some ability to enlarge his body?
No, that couldn’t be it. There was no way.
As Maezato Oju’s confusion deepened, a sharp pain suddenly exploded through him.

“Ugh, gahhh…?”

Only then did I realize.
That I was on my knees on the ground.
And that something incomprehensible had struck my face with tremendous force, while blade-like sharpness had raked across my entire body.
There was no need to wonder what it was.

“When exactly…?”

I lifted my head.
Blood dripped steadily from Han Yu-sung’s fist.
That fist. A fist that had closed the distance before I could even register it—it had knocked my blade aside and struck my face, driving me to my knees.
Me, Maezato Oju, blessed with superior reflexes.
Without even a moment to react.

“Was my understanding completely wrong?”

In the silence that followed.
Han Yu-sung, shaking the blood from his fist, spoke softly.

“It’s easier than I thought.”
“What…!”

Words that made me want to flip my eyes back in my head.

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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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