Solo Swordmaster

Chapter 96: Lessons Are Free For 3 Minutes

‘Wha… What the…!’

Crushed heads, sliced throats, broken legs, missing hearts, torn limbs, gouged-out eyes, cut tongues—blood and bodies covered the storefront. It looked like hell on earth.

But neither that nor the pain from his eye was making Xue-reung struggle.

‘M-my guards didn’t even last ten minutes?!’

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The guards were Black Dragon Clan martial artists. They may not have acquired all 72 Martial Skills, but all of them were comparable to players over level 50. Despite that, however, barely 10 minutes into the battle, most of them had joined the massive body count of a singular person.

“Wheh. At least the guards here are easy to chew. It wasn’t fun when those military fuckers came crawling out wherever we went.” The culprit, wearing a clown mask, spun his knife between his fingers and sluggishly muttered to himself, “The captain here has no spirit, too. Previous ones would be missing an arm and still be fighting. Unbelievable.”

Xue-reung gritted his teeth. “Who— Who said I was surrendering?!”

The masked man grinned. “Don’t waste your vigor. You can say whatever you want, but your eyes tell me that you’ve already given up.”

“Nonsense!”

Deep down, Xue-reung knew that the man was right. He knew that he couldn’t win—that all this was his pride speaking.

There was just too big of a skill difference between them. Everyone present was going to be helplessly slaughtered.

‘Goddamnit! I underestimated him too much!’

Xuereung clenched his jaws. Having heard the culprits got away each time despite the many successful defenses, he thought that the Black Dragon Building and Wang Ki-sung only fell victim because their guard was down—the criminals weren’t that great, and with preparation, capture would be easy.

But could he be blamed for having that thought? Other members of the clan thought the exact same thing. Having been past rulers and now holding absolute influence, the Seven Dragons Association was prideful.

But too much pride turned one haughty, and just because an organization as a whole was strong, did not mean that each individual member was.

A missing eye and the vain deaths of his subordinates: such were the consequences of his misjudgment.

‘I should have known better…!’

If only he hadn’t shown contempt for the enemy. If he’d focused on defense. If he gave up chasing glory. The outcome may not have changed, but he wouldn’t have gone down so easily. And thanks to him falling down after getting his eye stabbed, the rest of Xue-reung’s subordinates hopelessly lost their lives.

It was a bitter, tragic mistake.

“Playing with you comrades is fun, but I’ve got a job to do. It’s time to wrap things up.”

The man seemed pleased with Xue-reung’s look of grief, despair, regret, and humiliation. He chuckled and began walking towards Xue-reung, making him instinctively hobble backward.

Xue-reung gritted his teeth, taking two steps forward. He ripped off part of his shirt to tie around his eye and held up his spear.

“Unleash the Minor Black Counter River Formation!” Xue-reung commanded. He was determined to fight until his last breath.

But his subordinates did not answer him.

“What are you all doing? Hurry u—”

Xue-reung turned around to find his surroundings empty. While he had taken a step forward, his subordinates had taken a step back and ran away, leaving Xue-reung to fend for himself.

“How can this—!”

His bravest soldiers were already dead. Those still alive were neither skilled nor brave. They’d just seen their leader get defeated in the blink of an eye and their colleagues slaughtered, of course they’d run off.

“Fucking cowards! Come back right now, you hear me?! At least show the Black Dragon Clan’s backbone if you’re going to die!” he bellowed, striking his spear into the ground.

But understanding and condoning an action were two different things. As the head of security and as a martial artist of the clan, Xue-reung couldn’t allow his subordinates to cower.

“Look here, comrade. I get that you’re pissed, but shouldn’t you be focusing on me?”

Xue-reung heard a voice right behind him. Surprised, he swung his spear to get the young man away from him, his spear moved with brilliance following the principles of the Wyrm Flow. Resembling a snake that shredded you into pieces wherever you went, not even the majority of high-level players could avoid sustaining a fatal injury.

“Oof! Isn’t going for the neck a little too harsh for losing an eye?”

However, the young man was not any measly high-level player. He moved his hip to the side to dodge the spear and dragged his knife at lightning speed across Xue-reung’s arm.

Xue-reung writhed in pain, but his spear continued to move.

“Hm, your endurance doesn’t seem /invite/reaperscans

***

Moments later, Xue-reung stood covered in his own blood, barely leaning onto his spear.

“Tsk. What a shame your skills don’t match your spirit. It would have been more satisfying if you could resist a little more desperately.”

But playtime was up.

“Well, it was fun, still. Goodbye, now.”

Content, the young man pushed his knife into Xue-reung.

Slash—!

“Huh?”

The sound of slicing skin rang through the air, followed by blood bursting out of his shoulder—’his’ referring not to the blood of Xue-reung, but to the young man who was about to stab Xue-reung’s remaining eye.

“…Whew, what a surprise.”

He had turned his body at the last moment to block the attack just before his back got slashed, deflecting the hit to his shoulder instead.

However, despite the injury, the young man only turned around, delightfully impressed.

“I thought there were only muppets here. Who knew I’d find another master here?”

Rather, Xue-reung was the appalled one. The person who attacked the masked man shouldn’t be here.

“Chao Wei-ling!?”

“…Did you forget my warning to use my family name in vain, or do you want to fight me that badly?”

Her usual cold demeanor shifted, showing obvious discomfort. She took more issue about her family name than her attack missing its target.

Xue-reung was dumbstruck. “Why are you here?!”

“There was some commotion here while I was passing by, so I checked it out.”

“This is a job for our security! It’s no place for the Master of Sword’s dog to butt in!”

“It’s an emergency. As such, we shall be carrying out our rights according to the authority given to Guardian. Should you have any complaints, please call the head office.”

“Y-you…!”

Xue-reung turned bright red. He wasn’t about to let Wei-ling take care of the criminal on top of saving him. He’d rather die.

But neither Wei-ling nor the masked man cared about Xue-reung’s opinion. The masked man looked at Wei-ling’s glare with amusement.

“Alrighty. Are you my new opponent, comrade?”

“Basically.”

The young man let out a cold laugh. “I like your stance, but do you think you can handle me alone?”

“No,” she stoically replied.

“…Oi, comrade. Aren’t you giving up a little too fast?”

“It’s an objective conclusion.”

Wei-ling was stronger than Xue-reung. Having been appointed as Li Chingwei’s guard at a young age, she was one of the ‘great lords’ in the Seven Dragons Association.

But skill was relative. Considering that the man was one of the criminals who killed Wang Ki-sung, a higher rank than her, she couldn’t expect the man to be weaker than her.

He had avoided a Void Progression Sword Style attack that specialized in concealment, and even managed to graze Wei-ling back. Wei-ling lost her chance at winning when her attack failed.

“But I never give up.”

“Hm?”

Her eyes didn’t waver. Unlike Xue-reung’s dead eyes, hers still had victory in their sight.

“What, you can’t beat me alone but you can with someone else?”

“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible. Xue-reun would only be a hindrance.”

“Wei-ling!” Xue-reung shouted.

“What, then? Are you going to run?”

“If I was alone, maybe. However, I have baggage to carry.”

“Did you just call me baggage?!?!”

“Oh, look. He’s becoming self-aware.”

“He made a mistake because he lacked that. Now, he’s trying his best to judge himself objectively.”

Once again, Xue-reung’s outcries were ignored. It made him feel like he was already dead.

“So how are you going to beat me, then?”

“I’m thinking about using this.”

The young man had a glint in his eye. What made her so confident despite recognizing the difference in strength?

“…A smartphone? What are you doing, comrade? Don’t tell me you’re calling the police.”

Both him and Xue-reung were baffled at the sight of Wei-lin pressing a number on her phone.

Riiiiing— Click.

“< What is it? I’ve already heard today’s report. >”

“There is a work request for you.”

“< Huh? What request? >”

“Did you mean it when you said that I can fight the criminals if I learned the sword from you?”

“< Yeah, yeah. Of course. >”

“Good.”

Wei-ling did not want to say it even in death, but she had no choice as Guardian’s secretary.

“Then, please teach me how to win one-to-one with the criminals in three minutes.”

“< Have you been drinking?! /invite/reaperscans

——