The Crazy Battle God Has Returned - Chapter 44

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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 44

Seoul, the Shadow’s Cradle.
It was the name of a building constructed in Seoul by the Shadow Oath-takers to serve their lord. Unlike other lords’ establishments, it was neither grand nor ornate—instead, it exuded a tranquil and serene atmosphere, as shadowy as the organization itself.
Within its depths lay a training ground used by the oath-takers.
Two players were sparring there.

“…Hey, a sudden sparring match? What’s this about?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but apparently there’s a need to test the mercenary’s abilities.”
“Their abilities?”

It was Yoon Ga-ram and Han Yu-sung.
The Shadow Oath-takers watching their match were bewildered.

“…What abilities could possibly need testing?”
“Is there really a need? The opponent is Yoon Ga-ram, after all.”

There seemed to be no need to test anything at all.
The match was proceeding evenly. Yoon Ga-ram and Han Yu-sung exchanged attacks, inflicting wounds upon each other as the sparring continued.
Yoon Ga-ram’s level was 90. While low among the Shadow Oath-takers, she was a talent who garnered attention for her exceptional skill and potential.
If their opponent could fight her to a standstill, they should be at a similar level.
Was there truly a need to test them?

“That mercenary’s level is supposedly 45.”
“Hm? Level 45… What? What do you mean?”
“That doesn’t make sense. A level 45 fighting a level 90 like that?”

All those watching gasped in shock.
Literally a twofold level difference.
At such a gap, there should be no match at all. One would simply be crushed.
Yet the sparring between these two was remarkably balanced.

‘Are their stats disproportionately high for their level?’
‘Elixirs, perhaps? Or items… No, even accounting for those.’
‘It’s impossible. That’s not a gap that can be bridged by such things.’

The level gap was truly staggering.
The fact that they could fight on equal footing was astonishing in itself.
But there was something they were misunderstanding.

‘This man…!’

Yoon Ga-ram did not believe this situation was evenly matched.
To an observer, it would appear balanced.
But facing him directly, I felt an inexplicable pressure bearing down on me.
The man before me was concealing something—I was certain of it.
I was convinced that if I showed even the slightest opening, he would strike.

“Huff, hah, hgh…!”

I exhaled ragged breaths.
The pressure crushed my entire body. Considering the level difference, I absolutely had to win—and that certainty only intensified the weight upon me.
Unable to bear it any longer, I moved first.

WHOOOOSH!

As if he’d been waiting, Han Yu-sung’s blade tore through the earth.
Unable to withstand the force, fragments of shattered ground erupted like buckshot toward me.
I clenched my teeth and summoned shadows to shield myself.

CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!

Fragments collided with the shadow veil.
My vision blurred. But if I remained passive, I would be overwhelmed.
I defended while raising shadows to counterattack.
Beneath my feet, shadows transformed into spears.
And those spears surged toward my enemy….

CLANG!

“What…!”

It never fired.
Something binding wrapped around my legs and arms.
Yoon Ga-ram looked down in alarm, only then realizing her mistake.
The shadow rising from beneath her feet wasn’t one she had summoned.
It was Han Yu-sung’s Shadow Bind.
The timing had coincided so perfectly with her attempt to manifest a spear that she’d been confused.

‘He manipulates shadows?’

The binding was no trivial restraint.
Yoon Ga-ram tore through the bonds ensnaring her limbs, but even as she did, Han Yu-sung’s form before her dissolved like melting shadow.
He emerged from the darkness behind her.
Within the long shadow cast by her own body.

Whoosh—

“Will you continue fighting?”

A blade rested against Yoon Ga-ram’s throat.
The steel gleamed with a sword aura reminiscent of moonlight, flowing with ethereal brilliance.
She closed her eyes.

“No… I’ve lost.”

Yoon Ga-ram accepted her defeat without hesitation.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth—from biting her lip in frustration.
But that was separate from the outcome.
She was someone who knew how to accept defeat.

“There was no need to prove anything from the start, it seems.”
“Then that’s fortunate.”

Han Yu-sung withdrew his blade.
Yoon Ga-ram gazed at the shadow cast behind her, and at the shadow that had erupted from beneath her feet to bind her limbs.

“Did you learn a shadow-related skill?”
“It happened by chance. I’m still inexperienced with it.”
“Inexperienced, you say…”

Yoon Ga-ram let out a hollow laugh.
It was unusual to see someone deploy skills so precisely and efficiently.
More than that, the casting speed and utility—it was definitely not a low-tier skill.
It might very well have been an S-rank skill.

‘And that swordsmanship he used just now.’

Han Yu-sung hadn’t used his fists once during this battle.
He’d grown accustomed to the Moonlit Blade and fought using only Halden-style swordsmanship to test out his new techniques. Even that swordplay seemed far from ordinary to Yoon Ga-ram.

‘A level 45 player wielding at least two S-rank skills…?’

There could easily be more than that.
And then there was this: a man who appeared to be nothing but a swordsman was wielding shadow magic. That was equally difficult to believe.
Yoon Ga-ram exhaled a long sigh.
Whatever the case.

“I’ll register you as a mercenary. Someone of your caliber shouldn’t draw any objections from the Lord. Wait in the Waiting Room until the Difficult Realm begins.”

Yoon Ga-ram, her shoulders sagging with resignation, departed.

‘A war-scale siege. I participated in many of those in my past life.’

A smile played at the corners of my mouth as I recalled my previous existence.
War-based Difficult Realms were among my preferred trials.
Unlike other realms, there was less risk of the Lord’s interference, and the rewards were guaranteed.
Above all, there was plenty of combat—plenty to enjoy.

“I’m curious what kind of gimmicks they’ll throw in…”
[I share your sentiment, master. Kuhehe…]

I closed my eyes while seated in the chair.
Kakasha’s sinister laughter echoed through my mind.

* * *

[Entering the Difficult Realm, 【Colossal Statue Assault】.]
[Victory is achieved by destroying the enemy lord’s colossal statue.]
[The defeated lord must pay the victorious lord compensation in the form of coins and sacred relics of B-grade or higher as promised.]
[If the Shadow Oath-takers are defeated, they convert to the Covenant of the Dead. If the Covenant of the Dead are defeated, they become slaves of the Shadow.]
[Fight to victory in this war for your lord!]

The appointed hour for the Difficult Realm to open had arrived.
The Covenant of the Dead and Shadow Oath-takers, along with their mercenaries, entered the Difficult Realm.
My vision shifted, and soon the Battlefield of another world unfolded before me.

“Wow, this is… damn, it’s really vast, isn’t it?”

An expansive landscape stretched across the map.
The emptiness made it feel even more boundless.
At the eastern and western edges of this vast expanse stood two enormous statues.
To the east where Han Yu-sung stood was a statue of a figure wrapped entirely in shadow, while to the west was a statue of a woman whose body was wrapped in bone.
These were the 【Lord’s Colossal Statues】.

– Boom!
– Screeeech!

Around each statue stood ‘towers’ spaced at intervals.
Each tower was fitted with an enormous crystal sphere that radiated magical power, forming a barrier to protect the statue from enemies.
The opposing camp would have the same setup.
We had to breach this defense and destroy the statue to claim victory.

“Didn’t they say random mechanics would be applied to this Difficult Realm?”
“Yes. I saw it before we came. It was written in the description. But what exactly are these random mechanics?”
“You’ll see soon enough. You’ll figure it out quickly.”

The mercenaries whispered among themselves.
Just as they said, the mechanics became clear soon enough.
When all players finished summoning, a message appeared.

[Random mechanics are applied to this Battlefield.]
[【Monster Hunting】. Monsters will appear throughout the Battlefield. Defeating them grants gold, and the defeated monsters will be summoned in your allied camp to attack the enemy forces!]
[Epic monsters grant even more exceptional rewards!]
[Hunt monsters and achieve victory!]

The moment the message ended, an ominous light engulfed the Battlefield.
The light soon transformed into the shapes of monsters. Their varieties were diverse.
From goblins to trolls and ogres.
Literally all manner of monsters appeared scattered across the Battlefield.
But that wasn’t all.

[Epic Monsters are appearing.]
[【Ill Omen】 is roaming somewhere on the Battlefield.]
[【Poison Dragon Luikers】 has appeared in the east of the Battlefield.]
[【Goblin King】 has established a position somewhere on the Battlefield.]
[【Royal Guardian】 is defending the north of the Battlefield.]

Epic Monsters had appeared as well.
Monsters bearing special names and possessing formidable power.
The players who witnessed their emergence drew sharp breaths.

“Those names are ominous. Can we actually defeat them?”
“Some are defeatable, but others are nearly impossible to conquer. Either way, they’re strong—defeating them won’t be easy.”
“Poison Dragon… that uses poison, doesn’t it? I can’t go there.”
“Let’s focus on the regular monsters first.”

The players shifted their attention away from the Epic Monsters.
These weren’t opponents to face now. The correct approach was to hunt regular monsters first, accumulate strength, purchase items, and then confront them later.
The Shadow Oath-takers shared the same sentiment.

“We need to hunt the monsters first.”
“Yes. We’ll divide our forces as planned and hunt the monsters. We’ll need them to hold back the Covenant of the Dead.”
“Hmm, until then our defensive unit will have to endure somehow…”

The Oath-taker commanding the Shadow encampment this time.
Rihardt, a middle-aged man, gazed toward the enemy position.

[【Colossus Advance Battle】 has begun.]
[Minions are being summoned. Shops where you can purchase items using Gold have appeared in each encampment and throughout the Battlefield.]
[Achieve victory!]

Soldiers conjured from magical energy materialized from the Colossus.
Minions armed with common armor and weapons. These minions advanced along each lane and began clashing with enemy minions.
And.

Boom, boom!
Rumble, rumble, rumble….

A sound began to echo from somewhere.
The noise of countless soldiers marching in formation.
The ground trembled violently.
Those standing on the line traced the source of the sound.
Beyond that point, a tower in the Covenant of the Dead’s encampment.

“Hah, insane. That….”
“What am I looking at right now?”
“I’ve only heard rumors, but this is truly absurd….”

Behind it, an enormous horde of undead was advancing.
By rough estimate, over a thousand strong.
There were lower-tier undead like skeletons and ghouls, as well as mid-tier undead such as dullahans.
And even skeleton mages that wielded magical power.

“…I’m not sure how long we can hold out.”

Rihardt muttered this while observing the undead army.
The other oath-takers and mercenaries harbored the same thought.
The scale was such that no other conclusion was possible.

‘A senseless war of attrition—only possible because he is the Lord of the Dead.’

Seven hundred members of the Covenant of the Dead participated in this Difficult Realm alone.
Most were necromancers, and even those who weren’t could summon undead using skills provided by the Lord of the Dead.
The method chosen by the Covenant of the Dead was remarkably simple.

– Groooooooah!
– Kraaaaaaagh!

“They’re using monsters…!”

Sweeping away the monsters with an enormous undead army.
And.

“They’re coming this way too!”

Simultaneously attacking the Shadow Oath-takers’ main position.
Naturally, the undead were weaker compared to players. If the Shadow Oath-takers mounted a defense, they would inevitably hold the line.
But whether they held or not didn’t matter.

– Kyaaaaaaaa!

“Arrows rain down! Raise the shadows!”
“As predicted, they’re trying to pin us here. Don’t panic! They’re still just undead! Stay calm and respond accordingly!”

The Shadow Oath-takers could be bound to their main base.
Achieving that alone was essentially accomplishing the objective.
All that remained was to hunt monsters in the meantime and accumulate strength.
This was the strategy the Covenant of the Dead had chosen.
It was a strategy that had proven effective across countless battlefields already.

“The Shadow Oath-takers… they’re famous for being a small, elite force.”

A tide of undead swept over the minions who had been clashing blades with one another.
They devoured the Shadow Oath-takers’ minions in an instant, then advanced toward the tower alongside their own undead minions.
The Covenant of the Dead watched the spectacle unfold.

“They’re the complete opposite of us.”
“But…”

They truly were opposites.
The Shadow Oath-takers, small and elite. And the Covenant of the Dead, whose strength lay in overwhelming numbers—a trait befitting their undead nature.
Even outsiders were curious about which would prevail.
Regardless.

“In warfare within the Difficult Realm, we are supreme.”

The Covenant of the Dead were confident in this.
No matter how vaunted the Shadow Oath-takers were, it was impossible for them to hold back an endless tide of undead summoned continuously in this confined battlefield.
As always, the Lord of the Dead would emerge victorious this time as well.
Bolstered by such certainty and expectation, the undead advanced.
But they did not know.

“Perfect timing. I needed gold anyway.”

There existed someone who actually welcomed the advance of the undead.
A figure draped in a cloak with its hood pulled low.
Han Yu-sung summoned shadows to envelop the Lunar Blade. Since it had belonged to Oju, I needed to alter its appearance in places where many eyes watched.

“Before hunting the Epic Monster, let’s earn some gold first.”
“Pardon? What are you—”

Han Yu-sung’s form shot forward faster than Yoon Ga-ram beside him could even finish her question.
A fierce tempest swept across the line, propelling forward in a violent rush.
Toward the undead forces approaching the tower, alone.

“…What?”

A sight her eyes beheld yet her mind refused to accept.
From Yoon Ga-ram’s lips escaped a vacant, bewildered murmur.

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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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