WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 20: Duel (2)

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“Phew.”

The air was cold enough for my breath to fog.

Crunch!

When I reached the mountain peak and stepped onto the snow-covered ground, I sank in up to my ankles.

A duel amid snowy scenery, with an unobstructed view in every direction beneath the sky.

It might have sounded picturesque, but all I could see were those people.

The huge wild man, Evil Heaven, stood with arms folded, with the twin brothers side by side behind Evil Heaven.

The atmosphere was heavy.

Like me, they were full of fighting spirit.

-Don’t they look more like him now?

As the SoDam Sword said, Song JwaBaek and Song WooHyun had both grown considerably over the past three months.

They had become so sturdy that it would not have been an exaggeration to call them smaller versions of Evil Heaven.

Well, they were still small next to Evil Heaven, but they were bigger than me.

The twins had become easy to tell apart even without relying on the color of their clothes or their speech.

-That one really is something today...

The one the SoDam Sword meant was the younger brother, Song WooHyun.

His smooth head reflected the sunlight so brightly that it hurt my eyes.

He had gone from thinning at the crown to completely bald.

It gave him a more striking appearance, making him look less foolish.

Crunch, crunch!

I walked toward them through the snow.

“Heh heh, ready to lose?”

Evil Heaven provoked me the moment I arrived.

I was not going to fall for such a shallow provocation.

“We’ll have to see.”

I had no intention of losing.

At my words, Song JwaBaek spoke in a mocking voice.

“Why not surrender now and call me your lord?”

“You’re awfully confident.”

“Of course. You and I are on different levels now.”

If he was this confident, he must have achieved enough to be certain of victory.

Just then, Evil Heaven smacked the back of Song JwaBaek’s head.

Smack!

“Hmph! Who gave you permission to talk about surrender? This duel must continue until the end, no matter what.”

Song JwaBaek looked wronged.

It made sense, since he did not know the duel’s true purpose.

To Evil Heaven, this duel was a proxy battle to repay an ancient humiliation.

Evil Heaven wanted a member of the next generation to defeat an enemy Evil Heaven had never beaten...

-He’s trying to claim a mental victory.

This one sure was quick-witted.

Well, it was true in the end.

Regardless of the past, Evil Heaven wanted to prove that Evil Heaven’s Martial Arts were superior to those of the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster.

-Be quiet now, SoDam. If the fighting spirit cools, it will affect the duel.

-...Tsk.

At the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword’s words, the SoDam Sword grumbled.

But it understood the importance of this duel, so it stopped chattering.

“Which one of them will I be facing?”

At first, they had referred to the twins together so often that I wondered whether I would have to fight them two-on-one.

Fortunately, that was not the case.

Song JwaBaek stepped forward.

“Obviously me.”

I had expected as much.

Song WooHyun had grown stronger, but there was still something foolish about him that made him unsuitable for a duel.

Of course, with his current appearance, his opponent might be frightened first.

“Sir, you will keep your promise, correct?”

“Heh heh. That will only be possible if you win.”

I never thought I would lose.

Still, Evil Heaven kept showing such confidence, as though there were some hidden trump card, that I gradually became tense.

‘Evil Heaven is not the type to bluff about something like this.’

I needed to be careful.

Song JwaBaek and I faced each other from a distance.

Meanwhile, Evil Heaven and Song WooHyun retreated about fifteen jang away from us.

Once both sides were ready, Evil Heaven shouted,

“Begin!”

Song JwaBaek took his opening stance.

When he rolled up his sleeves, iron wrist guards were revealed.

They gleamed, and they did not look like ordinary guards.

As I stared at them curiously, he said,

“You have a sword. Do you expect me to fight bare-handed?”

“That is true, but I only have a rusty iron sword, while yours looks quite good.”

-A rusty sword? I am...

-Be quiet. You’re distracting him.

-...

The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword started to protest, apparently offended by my words, only to be scolded by the SoDam Sword.

The SoDam Sword had not forgotten its earlier grudge.

Song JwaBaek smiled.

“It’s nothing special. I heard the elder used them in youth.”

“In youth?”

Then they were no ordinary items.

Evil Heaven had supported them in every way possible, so what was this talk about fairness?

All Evil Heaven had done for me was teach me the circulation method of the Inscribed Wheel Selection Art and watch over my sword forms for about fifteen days.

Then again, what could I expect from someone who had stolen a martial arts book just to defeat the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster?

Shing!

I drew the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword and took the opening stance of the Stellar Star Sword Art.

Song JwaBaek also assumed the stance of a fist technique.

I had heard that Bizarre Oddity Evil Heaven’s unique Martial Arts, Black Steel, strengthened the body to the utmost extreme like an indestructible golden body, thereby increasing the power of the fist.

Of course, Evil Heaven had said this was to make the duel fair.

‘Then Evil Heaven should have taught me all of its techniques too.’

Evil Heaven had probably analyzed the martial arts book of the Stellar Star Sword Art as though taking it apart piece by piece.

Song JwaBaek and I glared at each other, probing for openings and feints.

He had clearly trained desperately as well, because there was not the slightest flaw in his form.

Then it happened.

“I’ll go first!”

Whoosh!

Snow scattered as Song JwaBaek charged at me like a wild stallion.

His momentum was no joke.

If he wanted to rush in first, then as a master swordsman, I needed to use my advantage in range.

Swish!

I deftly thrust my sword between Song JwaBaek’s eyebrows.

At that moment, he crossed both arms and knocked my sword aside with the iron guards on his wrists.

Clang!

“Huh?”

The tip of my sword trembled, and the powerful Reflective Force pushed me backward.

Tap tap tap tap!

Before I could recover from my surprise, he launched a rapid assault without giving me an opening.

“Haah!”

To stop him, I did not use thrusts. Instead, I swung my sword in several directions.

But every strike was blocked by his guards and forced back.

‘His fists are like chunks of iron.’

The guards were clearly not ordinary iron guards, and his Force of ki was worlds apart from what it had been three months ago.

If he had become this strong, there was something worth suspecting.

“Did you perhaps take an Elixir or something?”

“What are you talking about?”

Song JwaBaek strongly denied it.

For someone telling the truth, though, his eyes were shaking quite a bit.

He really could not lie.

Clang clang clang clang!

As though I had struck a nerve, he attacked even more fiercely.

-Un Hwi! Create distance. At this level, his internal energy is close to that of an Advanced master.

The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword, which was directly clashing against him, advised me.

‘An Advanced master?’

What kind of Elixir had he taken to gain internal energy close to that level?

That was nearly twenty years’ worth of internal energy.

Could all that daily pummeling have been Meridian Opening Technique rather than Evil Heaven venting anger?

‘Tsk. I need to get away.’

Whoosh!

Following the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword’s advice, I sprang backward to create distance.

But Song JwaBaek used his step to chase after me, determined not to let me get away.

‘Damn it!’

His Body-Lightening Technique was clearly too exceptional, even beyond his Martial Arts.

Creating distance itself was difficult.

Whenever I tried to pull away, he closed in and unleashed fists at my body. Evil Heaven must have taught him well.

‘Ah!’

Then his fist shot toward the center of my chest.

I instinctively bent backward.

Then I spun as though doing a handstand and created distance.

“Ha!”

Song JwaBaek seemed startled, as he had not expected that.

I had not learned it. It was simply an improvisation born from trying not to get hit.

“You’re flexible!”

His surprise lasted only a moment before he threw a punch at me.

As though evoking Shaolin’s Hundred-Step Divine Fist, his body shot forward with his outstretched fist.

Clang!

I blocked it with the flat of my iron sword.

But my body was pushed backward again.

“I won’t let you go!”

Song JwaBaek tried to close the distance once more.

‘How annoying.’

The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword spoke to me.

-This is the basic strategy when a fist technique faces a sword. Since he has grasped most of your sword forms, it is even more effective.

It showed just how thoroughly Evil Heaven had studied the Stellar Star Sword Art.

After all, Evil Heaven must have sharpened this art through fifteen years of bitter determination since the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster vanished. It would not have been an exaggeration to say this fist technique was steeped in Evil Heaven’s grudge.

“Heh heh!”

He seemed to be enjoying driving me back.

That grin of his was getting wider and wider.

“How long are you going to keep blocking and dodging? Why not use a technique?”

He provoked me.

He must have learned the perfect countermeasures for the techniques themselves, not merely the sword forms.

Otherwise, he would not be looking at me like that.

“Is that so?”

Then I would not hold back.

The movements of my hand on the sword hilt were about to grow fierce.

At that moment, he grinned and unleashed a fist technique.

“I’ve been waiting!”

His fist techniques came flying at me like rapid fire.

It felt as though dozens of fists were rushing at me at once.

Clang clang clang clang!

I quickly blocked his fists with the blade of my iron sword.

My body began to be driven backward again and again by the force of his fists.

“Get ready to call me your lord!”

Convinced of victory, he shouted with delight.

“Dream on.”

“What?”

At that moment, my retreating body bent backward like a bow before springing forward.

“Gah!”

The second technique of the Stellar Star Sword Art, Submerged Clam Duke Sword.

It was a counterattacking sword technique that explosively unleashed its restrained momentum and met the opponent’s attack head-on.

The sword momentum that had seemed all but spent surged forward madly, and Song JwaBaek hurriedly shifted from offense to defense.

Clang clang clang clang!

“Damn it! W-What is this?”

Song JwaBaek was flustered.

Naturally. It was clearly different from the technique he had heard about from Evil Heaven.

This was not the Stellar Star Sword Art from back then.

“Urgh!”

As he defended against my assault, Song JwaBaek tried to turn the situation around with another technique.

Spinning like a top, he tried to overpower my sword momentum with an even stronger fist technique instead of blocking it.

But I had expected that too.

‘If you come at me with such fierce momentum...’

The third technique of the Stellar Star Sword Art, Void Slash.

Entrusting my body to his spinning momentum like a supple willow branch, I sent my sword technique toward him as though riding the flow.

“Gah!”

Song JwaBaek recoiled in alarm as the sword technique curved gracefully through his fist technique.

The iron sword, which had moved as gently as a willow branch, was about to sharply pierce his chest.

“Damn it!”

Tap tap tap tap tap!

Song JwaBaek finally used his step to create distance.

When I sprang after him, he used not just his step but his Body-Lightening Technique to widen the distance even more.

“Are you going to keep running?”

Despite my provocation, he did not stop.

But throughout his retreat, his gaze kept darting somewhere as though checking for a reaction.

It was toward Evil Heaven.

‘Oh, my.’

Evil Heaven’s expression was a sight to behold.

Evil Heaven also seemed flustered when I displayed the Stellar Star Sword Art with its weaknesses corrected.

How did it feel now that the tables had turned?

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