Chapter 43
Aldein led his men out of the inn.
Jeong Yushin remained seated at the table in the exact position Aldein had left him.
The boar beastkin stood quietly behind Jeong Yushin.
Jeong Yushin, who had been staring down at the table without moving as though nailed in place, rose from his seat.
“Let’s go.”
Snub Nose, as the boar beastkin was called, was perplexed.
He had expected Jeong Yushin to look for comrades to fight alongside him and devise a plan, but that was not the case.
At the very least, he should have stocked up on recovery potions, but he did not do that either.
Jeong Yushin simply took the sword and coat Aldein had given him, then rose from his seat.
‘He’s going to face thirty-one people alone?’
He had to stop this young mixed-blood Barbaroi from doing something that was not merely reckless, but insane.
Snub Nose opened his mouth.
“Now, sir? It doesn’t seem as though you’re sufficiently prepared.”
“Don’t give me advice. Just be my guide.”
Jeong Yushin put on the black coat and gripped the single-edged saber.
Just as Snub Nose was about to speak again, his eyes met Jeong Yushin’s.
A strange energy surged beyond those eyes.
It looked just like the ‘Darkness’ of the labyrinth.
Snub Nose’s body trembled.
‘Those aren’t human eyes.’
Snub Nose had grown so mentally strong from experiencing all sorts of hardships under Aldein that ordinary matters no longer bothered him, but looking into Jeong Yushin’s eyes made his heart tremble.
It felt as though those beastlike eyes were slowly closing around Snub Nose’s heart.
“Let’s go.”
Jeong Yushin said it again.
“Yes.”
Snub Nose could no longer meet his eyes and bowed deeply.
The two of them walked through the dark and quiet southern streets.
Snub Nose walked beside Jeong Yushin and described the characteristics of the Eastern District.
Brothels, pleasure quarters, and slums.
It was a district where the lowest of the low in the city gathered to live.
It was a place where people with Monster Transformation Imprints or bizarre negative imprints gathered and lived out miserable lives.
Jeong Yushin walked silently as he listened to Snub Nose.
Before they knew it, they had crossed the Southern District and arrived in front of the Eastern District.
“Stop.”
There were guards preventing entry into the Eastern District.
Just like the entrance to the inner city he had seen before, the Eastern District was blocked by guards as well.
“The Eastern District’s curfew has passed. Go back.”
Snub Nose stepped forward, handed the guard a leather pouch, and whispered something to him.
The guard’s eyes widened as he listened to Snub Nose.
“I... I see. Pass!”
Jeong Yushin went ahead and passed through the gate.
The Eastern District.
All sorts of lights flashed brilliantly.
Just as Snub Nose had told him, it was a place where those with monster imprints gathered.
On one side of the street, slimes crawled along in a neat line.
An arachne, half human and half spider, was buying something on the street with a veil over its face.
Small kobolds had gathered with goblins, squeaking and bickering with one another.
A huge ogre stood with its arms crossed in front of a bar, glaring fiercely.
Monsters with all sorts of strange appearances surged through the streets as well.
The atmosphere was completely different from the quiet Southern District.
People were drunk, shouting and making a racket in the streets.
Some were haggling with prostitutes over payment in dark alleys.
Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Red.
The countless lights spilling from the shops mingled together, illuminating the decadent, pleasure-seeking streets.
Only Jeong Yushin walked with a gloomy expression.
Snub Nose spoke cautiously.
“We need to go farther in. If you have any business here, perhaps you’d like to stay for a while...”
“Just go.”
“Yes,”
They left the brilliantly lit streets and walked for quite some time.
Leaving the boisterous shouting behind, they continued on until they reached a dark and quiet area.
They saw houses crudely built from planks.
Filthy waste with a foul smell flowed through the ditch. Vomit and bloodstains clung to the old walls.
They continued straight ahead for a while.
The sounds of fighting, snoring, groans, and sobbing.
The stark sounds of all kinds of people spilled out from the shantytown.
Jeong Yushin advanced deeper as he listened to all of it.
After walking for about three hours, perhaps.
They saw a place that looked like an inn built of wood.
Light leaked through the gap around the entrance of its old wooden door.
They could hear loud voices talking.
“Here we are. The known number is thirty in total. They’re probably all gathered here. The executives, excluding those scattered into cells, gather here once a month. They’re low-ranking, though.”
Snub Nose said this.
So they were all executives.
“It’s not too late even now. Why don’t you prepare a little more before going in?”
“Go back.”
“Lord Ska.”
Jeong Yushin looked back at Snub Nose.
“Go.”
Snub Nose could no longer meet his eyes, so he bowed and turned back.
Jeong Yushin watched the boar beastkin disappear into the darkness, then stood in front of the bar.
Creeeak.
The old door creaked open, and Jeong Yushin entered.
The loud chatter abruptly stopped.
Jeong Yushin looked around and counted the people.
Thirty-one in total.
It differed from the number Snub Nose had given him.
As Jeong Yushin looked around, his eyes suddenly stopped at one place.
A human man wiping glasses behind the counter.
Tarman.
A member of Kaal’s party.
Because he had injured his leg and could not enter alongside Kaal’s party, Jeong Yushin had entered in his place.
As a result, Jeong Yushin had nearly died.
He had buried and moved on from what came afterward thanks to the kindness and help Jeong Yushin had shown him.
Jeong Yushin had heard that Tarman was working in the labyrinth city with Anne.
He had heard that Tarman was earning money to support Dean, who had gone mad from the ‘Darkness,’ and Marie, who was pregnant with a hobgoblin’s child.
‘Why are you here?’
His head spun from the misery in his heart.
He wanted to know why Tarman was here. Desperately.
Just then, a human man with a thick beard approached him.
“Who are you?”
Jeong Yushin drew a dagger from inside his coat and showed it to him.
“Someone like this.”
The man flinched and stepped back.
When Jeong Yushin showed him the mark on the dagger, the man relaxed and nodded.
“What? A Barbaroi? A new executive?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re a man of few words.”
The man grinned and nodded.
“The new guy’s here!!”
The man shouted. Laughter rose from the surrounding people.
“Sit down. Have a drink.”
Following the man’s guidance, Jeong Yushin sat down in the center of the bar.
Tarman approached carrying a bottle and a glass.
Jeong Yushin and Tarman’s eyes met.
Tarman recognized Jeong Yushin and flinched.
“What? Tarman, do you know him?”
“N-no, sir.”
The man grinned.
“Really? I suppose that’s true. All Barbarois look alike, after all. They’re muscular, vicious, and can’t resist any hole they see. They’re beasts.”
The man snatched the bottle and glass from Tarman and placed them on the table.
The one-eyed man uncorked the bottle and poured liquor into the glass.
“Here, here. Drink up.”
Liquor gushed out and filled the glass.
Drops of liquor splashed in every direction, wetting the table.
Jeong Yushin sat still and stared into the glass.
“Why? Afraid I put poison in it? Getting nervous?”
The surroundings were silent. Not even the sound of a mouse could be heard.
The man continued with a broad grin.
“Ska, you gutsy bastard. What do you think you’re doing coming here? Did you enjoy the gift we gave you?”
The man grinned.
Instead of answering, Jeong Yushin raised a finger and tapped the glass.
Tink. Tink. Tink.
Not even a breath could be heard.
Only the glass rang out in the quiet bar.
Jeong Yushin opened his mouth.
“How did you know?”
The shaggy-haired man snorted.
“You brainless bastard. You’re the only Barbaroi to enter the labyrinth city in the past three years. There’s no way we wouldn’t know.”
I see.
“Did you think we were complete idiots? Did you think we’d let you in just because you showed us a dagger? We already knew and let you in.”
The man said this as he poured liquor into his own glass.
Glug, glug, glug.
When the glass was half full, the man continued.
“Are you enjoying yourself, clinging to that bitch Karin? Did you think you’d become somebody just because that bastard Darmong was watching over you?”
Jeong Yushin silently listened to the man’s insults, then turned his head and looked at Tarman.
Tarman stood trembling, unable to do anything.
Jeong Yushin spoke.
“Why are you here?”
Tarman fidgeted and could not answer.
The hairy man beckoned Tarman over.
Tarman approached the man and bowed at the waist.
Smack!!!
Crash!
Tarman was slapped across the face, breaking through a chair and table as he rolled across the floor.
“You should answer when you’re asked. You stupid new-guy bastard. You grabbed me by the pant leg, saying you wanted to make money, and you can’t even do your job properly. What a useless bastard.”
The man grinned at Jeong Yushin.
“Right?”
“...”
“Is that right or not? Answer me. Am I talking to myself?”
“···Why did you touch Dito’s family?”
The man grinned, leaned back, tilted his glass, and took a sip of liquor.
“That stupid brat went looking for a pharmacy to cure his mother after somehow getting his hands on money. I killed them because I couldn’t stand that hopeful look on his face. He went after his father. If he had just done what he was told, none of this would have happened. It’s karma. Pure karma.”
The man rose from his seat and continued.
“He even had food in his pockets. I wonder what softhearted fool he found who was generous enough to feed him.”
“Where is the boss?”
The man snorted, looked around, and spoke quietly.
“Boys, he’s just a novice explorer who’s entered the labyrinth three times. He’s an unremarkable young mixed-blood, so give him a proper send-off.”
Shing!
The men surrounding Jeong Yushin’s table drew their weapons.
Still seated in his chair, Jeong Yushin looked around.
The various men held all sorts of strange weapons.
Maces, harpoon swords, hand axes, crossbows, daggers, longswords, rapiers, and hammers.
All kinds of renowned weapons gleamed ominously beneath the bar’s lights.
Similar emotions appeared on the faces of the men surrounding the table.
Mockery, contempt, scorn, and derision.
But Jeong Yushin did not react to any of them. He simply sat still and looked at Tarman’s face.
Tarman was staring at Jeong Yushin from the same fallen position.
His conscience tormented him at the thought that the mixed-blood Barbaroi who had saved his childhood friends and even shown them kindness would soon die before his eyes.
But there was nothing he could do.
He was no different from a weak, worthless bug at the bottom of society.
A mocking smile appeared on the man’s face.
“You’re so scared you can’t even move. You worthless Barbaroi.”
At that moment.
Fwoooooosh!!!
A flash of light burst from the scabbard.
Fwoooosh!!!
The man’s head went flying through the air in a single stroke.
Fsssssshhh.
Blood gushed from the severed neck.
The headless body lost its strength and dropped to its knees with a thud.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The man’s head hit the floor and rolled away.
The people in the bar stood frozen, blinking as they watched.
A long single-edged saber was in Jeong Yushin’s hand.
No one in the bar had seen when Jeong Yushin drew the saber.
Tarman’s eyes widened like saucers.
Jeong Yushin slowly rose from his seat and looked around.
“You worthless vermin. I’ll kill every last one of you.”
The man holding the mace shouted frantically.
“Kill him!!”
Jeong Yushin kicked the table.
Bang!!!
The men struck by the table went tumbling.
The weapons swung toward Jeong Yushin simultaneously.
A mace on the right.
A harpoon sword on the left.
A dagger from behind.
His instantaneous perception, heightened through leveling up, made it possible.
He turned his body and dodged the dagger stabbing in from behind.
Jeong Yushin brought his saber down. His target was the man holding the mace.
Shraaak!!!
The mace-wielder’s face split in half.
Blood and pale brain matter splattered across Jeong Yushin’s face.
He had killed one man.
There was a price to pay as well.
The harpoon sword tore into his shoulder and ripped away a handful of flesh.
Crunch.
“Ghk.”
A gritted sound escaped Jeong Yushin’s mouth.
[Revenger]
Imprint activated.
Blue ghost flames blazed in Jeong Yushin’s eyes.
One of the men shouted in horror.
“It’s an imprint ability!”
“Be careful!”
The men began moving cautiously.
The harpoon sword that had passed through his shoulder came flying back.
Jeong Yushin turned and swung his saber diagonally.
From bottom to top.
Sliiice!!!
The thin saber split the man’s belly and severed his intestines.
“Aaaaargh!!!”
The man holding the harpoon sword dropped it, clutched his belly, and screamed.
There was no time to rest. Weapons were still flying at him in that very moment.
Jeong Yushin rolled swiftly and came to stand behind the man clutching his belly.
All sorts of weapons flew in and smashed the man to pieces.
Whack. Crack. Slash.
Jeong Yushin charged at the next man, his coat tails fluttering.
The man holding a longsword.
The man let out a shriek and thrust his longsword straight at Jeong Yushin.
‘The wrist.’
The blood-red saber severed the man’s wrist.
Shraaak!!!
Blood gushed from the severed wrist.
“Aaaaaaargh!!!”
The man with the severed wrist screamed. He trembled in a panic, unable even to staunch the bleeding.
Jeong Yushin rapidly swept his eyes across his surroundings.
A spear and rapier from the front.
A dagger and axe from the side.
‘I can’t block them all.’
He would sacrifice flesh.
He only needed to avoid fatal wounds.
He seized the thrusting spear and swung his saber.
The saber cleaved through the air.
Fwoooooosh!!!
It simultaneously cut the spear-wielder’s throat and the rapier-wielder’s eyes.
“Aaaaaaargh!!!”
One man clutched his throat while the other covered his eyes, both stumbling backward with anguished screams.
An axe came flying in.
Jeong Yushin took one more step toward the descending axe.
Boom!!
The axe handle slammed into his shoulder, making it throb. At the same time, the dagger stabbing in from the side pierced his belly.
One blow. Two blows. Three blows.
The dagger tore through Jeong Yushin’s side.
But Jeong Yushin paid it no mind and bit down on the axe-wielder’s neck bone. Like a wolf.
Crunch.
His mouth filled with flesh and bone.
The man whose larynx had been torn out stumbled backward, then dropped to his knees.
Clatter.
The axe fell to the floor.
Jeong Yushin chewed for a while, then spat it onto the floor.
“Ptui!”
Fragments of larynx and flesh flew away, mixed with saliva, and stuck to the floor.
Jeong Yushin looked down at the man beside him who was stabbing away desperately with a dagger.
[Revenger]
Blue ghost flames blazed in Jeong Yushin’s eyes.
The face of the man whose eyes met his twitched.
“You bastard... stop stabbing me.”
Jeong Yushin seized the dagger-wielder’s wrist and twisted it to the side.
Crack-crack.
“Gasp!!!”
The man with the shattered wrist sucked in a breath.
Jeong Yushin snatched the dagger and stabbed the man in the abdomen.
Thud.
“Guhk!!!”
He did not stop there, driving the single-edged saber deep into him.
Thrust.
“Ghk!!!”
Pushing the man’s body forward, Jeong Yushin advanced while repeatedly stabbing the man’s belly with the dagger in his other hand.
Stab, stab, stab, stab.
Each time the dagger pierced his abdomen, the man’s body flapped like a fish.
Thunk!!!
The sound of a crossbow string.
Jeong Yushin quickly ducked.
Thwack!!!
The bolt pierced the man’s head and lodged there.
The dagger had already torn through his organs, so he would not have lived much longer anyway.
“A... monster.”
The remaining men trembled.
“K-kill him!!! We still have the advantage!!!”
A large man charged in and swung a massive hammer.
Jeong Yushin pulled out his saber and sidestepped slightly.
Kwaaaang!!!
The table and chairs struck by the hammer shattered, sending wooden splinters flying.
The flying splinters drifted slowly through the air.
Jeong Yushin gripped the saber with both hands.
One breath was enough.
A downward cut.
Shraaak!!!
The man’s wrist fell away.
“Uwaaaah!!!”
The large man with the severed wrist twisted his body and let out a howl.
A cut to the knee.
The long saber sliced through the knee cartilage.
The large man dropped to one knee.
An upward cut.
Jeong Yushin drew back the saber, then struck his neck as a final blow.
Thump!!!
The large head flew through the air, fell onto the wooden floor, and rolled away somewhere.
Kweeeek!!!
Jeong Yushin reflexively raised his palm.
Thunk!!
The pointed spike of a military pick pierced through Jeong Yushin’s palm and protruded from the other side.
“Hah. Hah.”
A triumphant smile spread across the face of the panting man.
Jeong Yushin gritted his teeth and pulled back his pierced hand.
The man dropped his weapon and stepped backward.
“Now!”
The man could not finish speaking.
Bam!!!
Jeong Yushin’s headbutt slammed into the man’s face.
His nose crumpled, and broken teeth flew through the air.
“Guhh!!!”
The man flailed as he screamed.
Jeong Yushin pulled the military pick from his palm and drove it into the man’s forehead.
Crunch!!!
The spike shattered the forehead bone and lodged in his brain.
The man’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed like a log.
Thud.
The sound of his body hitting the floor became the signal.
“Aaaaargh!!!”
The few men remaining ran for the entrance.
Were they trying to escape?
[Sacred Weapon]
A shining dagger flew like a bolt.
It embedded itself in the wrist of the man who had just grabbed the bar’s doorknob.
“Aaargh!!!”
The man grabbed his wrist and screamed.
Jeong Yushin ran over and cut through the man’s neck.
The powerful stream of blood spraying from the severed neck struck the bar’s door.
Swish.
Jeong Yushin swung the thin saber through the air and flicked off the blood.
The wounds on his body were slowly healing thanks to the effect of the Revenger Imprint.
Blocking the entrance, Jeong Yushin looked down at the single-edged saber illuminated by the bar’s lights and spoke.
“No one gets out. Not a single one.”
Jeong Yushin’s indifferent voice pronounced a death sentence upon everyone left in the bar.