Absolute Sword Sense - Chapter 8

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 8: Blood-Nurturing Valley (2)

──────

I was utterly humiliated by that sudden fart.

The SoDam Sword delighted in teasing me, saying it had been bored anyway, but I was far too troubled to care.

Still, that humiliation lasted only a moment.

‘This is strange.’

“What’s strange? That you farted? Pwahahahaha!”

‘Sigh... Not that.’

“Then what?”

‘The pain has completely stopped.’

“That’s good. I was worried about you.”

‘...You?’

“Of course. We’re bound by fate.”

‘That’s a laugh. I’d sooner trust a passing flea. Anyway, it’s not just that. I feel different.’

“What kind of feeling?”

‘How should I put it? There’s no foreign sensation inside me. If anything, I feel refreshed.’

It had been different in my previous life.

After accepting a Blood Worm, there had always been a distinct foreign sensation.

A worm as long as a finger joint wriggling inside the body was difficult to get used to at first.

“Ugh...”

I only had to look at those who had swallowed a Blood Worm and returned to their places.

The twins, Song JwaBaek and Song WooHyun, clutched their chests with faces as though they had bitten into dung.

“So you don’t feel like that? Maybe you got used to it?”

‘Not at all.’

There was no way anyone could get used to that.

What puzzled me was that, rather than merely adapting, my body felt refreshed and brimming with vitality.

‘Could it be...?’

Had something happened to the Blood Worm inside me?

There was a simple way to answer that question.

“What is it?”

‘Just stimulate the Blood Worm slightly with internal energy.’

“Would that tell you...”

Right then,

“Gack, gack, gack!”

Song JwaBaek suddenly convulsed, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed.

Startled, Song WooHyun grabbed his older brother and panicked.

“Brother! Brother!”

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

‘Tsk tsk. That’s exactly what happens.’

If someone clumsily tried to do something to the Blood Worm with internal energy, the creature would go wild.

The pain would be enough to make them faint.

Unless one was a master with deep internal energy, trying to touch or suppress the Blood Worm inside the body was a shortcut to shortening one’s life.

Tyrannical Blood Commander Gu SangWoong, standing on the platform, said as if the timing could not have been better.

“Did you see that? If you try any foolish tricks with the Blood Worm, that will happen to you. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

At my shout, the boys and girls hurriedly followed.

“Yes, sir!”

One corner of Gu SangWoong’s mouth curled up.

It was probably because I had set an example and taken charge of the atmosphere without being told.

My purpose was not to help them, but taking the lead would reduce the sacrifices and raise my standing.

“What? Are you trying to get on their good side?”

‘That’s right.’

I had no intention of becoming a third-rate Spy in this life.

I would climb higher and properly repay those who had toyed with me.

To do that, I needed to prove that I was not a disposable card, but a winning hand worth using.

Once everyone had swallowed a Blood Worm, Tyrannical Blood Commander Gu SangWoong took out a fingernail-sized pellet from a small gourd bottle.

“Do you see this?”

That was an Antidote.

“This is called an Antidote. If you do not take one every twelve two-hour periods, you will die.”

The boys and girls’ faces darkened at those words.

The Blood Cult, defeated by the martial artists' alliance, had only survived until now by forcibly increasing its followers.

The Blood Worm was the most effective means of doing so.

Once twelve two-hour periods passed, the Blood Worm would go berserk and devour its host’s heart.

“The gourd bottles you will receive now each contain four pellets. I believe you can imagine what will happen if the Antidotes are not supplied on time.”

Gu SangWoong’s gaze turned toward the corpse covered with a straw mat in front of the platform.

Despair filled the boys’ and girls’ eyes.

Control through fear was the Blood Cult’s way.

“Well, so long as you prove your loyalty to the main cult, you will receive your supplies on time. And the main cult values ability above all else.”

He pointed to the Squad leaders before the platform.

“Do you see the belts around these Squad leaders’ waists?”

The high-rank warriors who served as Squad leaders wore blue belts.

“That belt signifies a high-rank warrior of the main cult. If you are acknowledged for your ability and contributions and become a high-rank warrior, the Blood Worm inside your body will be removed.”

The boys and girls’ expressions turned strange at those words.

They had been offered a way to escape the Blood Worm’s control.

It was a carrot.

An organization could not be run with nothing but the whip.

By planting even the slightest hope in them, the Blood Cult could guide them into becoming loyal followers.

“Earn recognition and rise higher. Then you will be rewarded.”

He was filling them with false hope.

In the end, they and I were no different from the monkeys deceived by the old trick of three in the morning and four in the evening.

Clap!

Gu SangWoong brought his fist and palm together in salute.

“I sincerely welcome you to the Blood Cult. From this day forward, you are training cadets of the main cult.”

As soon as he finished speaking, I shouted.

“Hail the Blood! Hail the Blood! Hail, Hail the Blood!”

The boys and girls, who had been watching for cues, followed along.

“Hail the Blood! Hail the Blood! Hail, Hail the Blood!”

Since I had set an example, the Squad leaders no longer needed to step forward and explain the Blood Cult’s loyalty ritual themselves. They looked pleased.

Everyone except one person, that was.

Squad Leader Oh would find whatever I did displeasing.

“We will now begin assigning ranks to the training cadets. Squad leaders, prepare yourselves.”

“Yes, sir!”

At the commander’s command, the Squad leaders headed behind the platform.

Behind it stood the entrances to caves leading into the mountain cliff.

There were three cave entrances. Three Squad leaders entered one each, while Squad Leader Oh and the female Squad leader remained outside.

Screeeech!

Blood Cult members moved the platform aside and guided the training cadets toward the cave entrances.

As they approached, the commander standing before the caves took out a wooden tablet from inside his robes.

“We will assess your aptitude. Do your best to receive a good rank.”

The wooden tablet in the commander’s hand bore the characters for high, mid, and low.

The tablet I had received in my previous life had been low.

That was the worst one.

“Why is it the worst?”

‘If you receive that, you will begin as a low-rank warrior no matter what.’

Not merely a low-rank warrior. The Blood Cult used them as expendable pieces whenever it wished.

At the very least, I needed a mid-rank tablet if I wanted to rise higher.

“But are you going to be all right? They said they were checking your aptitude, but your dantian is broken.”

The SoDam Sword was concerned for once.

It seemed that, despite calling us bound by fate, the sword really did worry about me.

“I will wait on the other side. I hope you receive a good tablet.”

With those final words, Tyrannical Blood Commander Gu SangWoong entered a cave.

Two Squad leaders followed behind him.

However, before Squad Leader Oh entered, the squad leader glanced back at me and gave me a smile whose meaning I could not read.

‘So there’s a scheme.’

It looked like Squad Leader Oh had prepared something.

Once the Squad leaders had gone in, the Blood Cult’s mid-rank warriors took control of the training cadets.

The clothes the training cadets wore bore markings, the rank markings the Blood Cult had given them when they were kidnapped.

My clothes bore one as well.

It said mid-grade, so I had to enter the middle cave.

Since I was in the front row, I rose to enter first, but a mid-rank Blood Cult warrior stopped me.

“You will go last.”

“Pardon?”

I had deliberately rushed forward to be first, only to be told I would go last.

Squad Leader Oh had undoubtedly arranged this.

“That Squad Leader Oh is really exhausting.”

‘...I agree.’

I had expected the squad leader to become a variable, but the squad leader was acting sooner than I thought.

As a result, I had to watch all the other training cadets enter first.

When it was Song JwaBaek’s turn, he spoke to me in a determined voice.

“Hey! Since it’s come to this, I’ll become a high-rank warrior. I’ll get there before you do!”

“Sure. You’ll get there first.”

“Hey, it isn’t your turn yet. Sit down.”

“Uh, uh.”

Song JwaBaek made Song WooHyun sit back down after his younger brother tried to follow him in, then snorted and strode energetically into the cave.

It was not as if I were some rival. There was no need to burn with such pointless enthusiasm.

‘I’m jealous.’

“Why? Do you think he’ll get a high tablet?”

‘Yes. It’s certain.’

They looked a little foolish on the surface, but they seemed to possess exceptional aptitude.

Otherwise, they could never have become the infamous Black-and-White Twin Ghost.

I clearly remembered that they had been called Brigade leaders then.

Only after nearly half a two-hour period had passed did all the training cadets enter the caves.

Finally, it was my turn.

“Wait a moment.”

But I was not allowed to enter immediately.

After making me wait for a while, the mid-rank warrior finally told me to enter the cave.

I would soon learn what they had prepared.

Step. Step.

The torchlit cave held a cavern within.

One Squad leader remained in each cavern to assess the training cadets’ aptitude.

The Squad leader who had entered the middle cave earlier was HaeGyum, someone with a more generous disposition than the other Squad leaders.

‘Huh!?’

But someone entirely unexpected was waiting in the cavern.

This man, who looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties, wore an eyepatch over one eye and had a mustache.

He was the Blood Wolf Squad leader, Noh Sung-Gu.

‘Ah... So this is what they prepared.’

Now I understood why Squad Leader Oh had looked so smug.

Noh Sung-Gu looked far younger than he had in my previous life. Rather than glad, I felt flustered.

Right then,

Whoosh!

The Blood Wolf Squad leader, Noh Sung-Gu, shot forward like lightning and grabbed my throat.

“Ghk!”

I did not even have time to evade.

How could a person be this fast?

“Can you handle this alone? Hurry and take me out!”

The SoDam Sword shouted for me to pull it from my robes.

But even if I did, I would still be no match for this man.

As a high-rank warrior, he was an Advanced master.

Even if the SoDam Sword helped me, my body could not possibly keep up with this man’s movements.

Thwack!

Noh Sung-Gu kicked my legs out from under me.

Naturally, I fell.

Crash!

“Urgh!”

It felt as though my waist would break.

Shing!

Noh Sung-Gu drew a dao and aimed it at my throat.

Then, in a voice filled with rage, he spoke.

“You said your maternal grandfather served under my father?”

“...That is correct.”

Scrape!

The moment I finished speaking, Noh Sung-Gu’s dao blade slightly cut into my neck.

“Argh! W-What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?”

Noh Sung-Gu snorted at my panic, as if he found it absurd.

“Ha! You must be crazy eager to die. Do you think I, who trained with the Blood Wolf Squad, would fail to remember even one name among the warriors who served under my father?”

‘!!!’

For a moment, I could not speak.

I had been exposed far too quickly.

Press!

“Urgh!”

Noh Sung-Gu pressed the blade down further.

“What is your identity?”

It looked as though Noh Sung-Gu would kill me on the spot if I did not tell the truth.

My heart pounded madly.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Where had that courage come from?

Was it stubbornness born from having died once already?