WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Oblivious

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◈ Murim in my Hometown ◈

Chapter 26: Annihilation

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“Annihilate them.”

At Dang Dohun’s command, the five Detoxification Hall members unleashed their hidden weapons all at once.

Whoosh!

As the hidden weapons flew in like a swarm of bees with murderous whistles, the bandits cried out in alarm and raised their shields.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

“Argh!”

Several bandits who were too slow to react, or too worked up to judge properly, were struck in their exposed faces and upper bodies and fell backward.

Most of the other hidden weapons lodged in the bamboo shields.

The emboldened leader shouted loudly from behind his shield.

“See that? We can block all those bastards’ hidden weapons with shields! Don’t be afraid, charge! We only need to find the antidote! They have the antidote!”

“Waaaaah!”

Seeing a chance of victory, the bandits rushed down the mountain slope with their bamboo shields held before them, as though their way to survival had opened.

The Tang Clan members retreated, putting their backs to the carriage as they drew their swords. The monk had vanished at some point and was nowhere to be seen.

The bandits also rushed toward us. As I drew my long saber and stepped forward, Dang Hyeseo asked,

“Do you need help?”

Despite being surrounded by bandits, Dang Hyeseo remained perfectly calm.

I did not know how skilled she was, but the sword at her waist did not seem to be merely for show.

“No need. Stay behind me. I need to earn my pay.”

If I panicked before bandits like these, I did not deserve three taels of silver per day.

Won Seogang seemed to think the same and drew a sword.

“Let’s deal with the ones who reach us first, one at a time.”

“Let’s.”

More than a dozen bandits came down the mountain path, pushing through the brush in a disorderly mess without any formation to speak of.

Before they could form up, I charged at the closest one.

“Eek!”

When I swung my long saber over my head, the startled bandit hurriedly raised his shield.

Even if it was made of bamboo, I could not cut through a shield in one blow. If my blade became lodged in it, I would have to fight barehanded.

As the shield rose high before me, I swung my arm to the side in a wide semicircle and brought my blade down.

Bending my knees and lowering my body, I cut the bandit’s exposed legs beneath the shield.

“Argh!”

The shield dropped, exposing his upper body. I did not miss the opening and drove my saber in. Blood sprayed as the bandit clutched his throat and collapsed.

These men were not complete fools.

When one of their comrades was killed in an instant, they hurriedly spread to either side and tried to surround me.

As I aimed for an opening in the man beside me, a whistle split the air overhead.

Whizz!

Using Footwork, I hurried back. A beat later, an arrow struck the ground. The next arrows came in just as slowly. Rather than dodge, I easily knocked them aside with my long saber.

“Archers on the slope!”

I shouted a warning to the others, then picked up a dead man’s shield.

Archery was difficult to master, and a proper bow cost more than most swords or sabers.

The arrows had long shafts but were not particularly fast. They seemed to be using bamboo bows they had made themselves.

Such crude bows might work against rabbits or deer, but they had no chance against martial artists of any skill.

Everyone either swept the arrows aside with their weapons, dodged after hearing them, or seized the bandits’ shields and used them for cover.

Judging by the number of arrows fired, there were three or four archers.

They hit nothing but empty ground, shields, and their fellow bandits, but they were still quite troublesome.

Several Detoxification Hall members circled through the brush and slipped onto the slope. Soon, the sound of bowstrings vanished.

I threw the bamboo shield at the man before me and climbed the slope.

The men who had intended to surround me from both sides and stab me when I charged looked caught off guard. They hurried after me.

I stepped on a rock, turned, and leaped over their heads.

Putting my weight into both feet, I stomped on one man’s shield and crushed him beneath it.

From a crouch, I swung my long saber right and cut down one man. Then I sprang left and slammed my shoulder into another man’s shield.

He fell backward, and I cut his throat.

When I turned around covered in blood, two terrified bandits threw down their shields and fled into the mountains.

I wiped the blood from my face and looked around. Won Seogang was reducing the bandits’ numbers more efficiently than I was.

Won Seogang wounded them through openings before finishing them off, and even thrust a sword through narrow gaps in the bamboo to pierce their chests.

Watching the skill of an experienced swordsman reminded me of what I had learned yesterday.

My long saber might break if I tried to thrust with it, so I picked up the old, chipped Broadsword held by a dead bandit. I ran past the corpses toward the carriage.

One of the men fighting the driver sensed me and turned around. His eyes widened as he turned his shield toward me.

I did not stop and kept charging.

Rather than seek an opening, I focused the tip of my blade on a single point.

Making the most of the sword path inherent in the saber art, I put all my strength into a thrusting move.

The tip of the Broadsword split through the bamboo of the shield.

The thrill made the hair on my head stand on end, but the blade stopped after sinking in about a span. The blade was too broad, and the shield was sturdier than I had expected.

The bandit who had accidentally blocked the attack saw the Broadsword lodged in his shield, and his eyes gleamed.

“Die, you bastard!”

He swung his blade down from above the shield.

I lowered my body to avoid it and gripped the Broadsword with both hands. As I pushed forward with my weight behind it, the bamboo finally snapped and the blade slid straight through.

The tip cut through the bandit’s flesh and bone, drawing out a pained scream.

As he fell, the driver quickly finished him off and gave me a grateful look. I nodded and pulled out my long saber.

Won Seogang, who had been slaughtering bandits impassively, frowned and clicked his tongue.

I thought Won Seogang would shout at me to get a hold of myself, but he merely shook his head.

We were outnumbered, but we were not at a disadvantage.

The bandits’ martial skills were utterly crude.

I had heard that masters could be found in the mountains, but one had to visit a large bandit stronghold belonging to the Green Forest to glimpse one.

These nameless country bandits were worse than half-trained back-alley thugs.

Had they been regular soldiers, using a tight formation with shields covering their entire bodies and spears to block the mountain path ahead and behind us, the outcome would have been completely different.

Preparing shields to block hidden weapons had been a fine idea, but because they could not use them properly, the shields only restricted their movements and kept them from using their blades well.

“You fucking bastard!”

A large bandit let out a roar and hurled his shield at me.

I used footwork to avoid it, and he swung his Broadsword wildly with all his might.

His strength-driven attacks were as fierce as a beast’s, but the large movements left plenty of openings.

Using an ultimate move from the Nameless Saber Art, I redirected his blade along its course. The large man lost his balance and staggered.

I stepped in and slashed deeply across his chest.

Splurt!

Blood gushed from the wound, which had split open so deeply that bone showed through. Foul-smelling drops of blood ran down my hair like rain and dripped to the ground.

I stepped back and looked around. Not a single bandit remained nearby.

Won Seogang moved calmly among the bandits like a wolf. The two drivers also swung their Broadswords diligently, cutting off limbs and splitting skulls.

Dang Hyeseo and her subordinate held swords as well, killing the bandits who attacked them one by one. They were not especially skilled, but they seemed capable of protecting themselves.

It was clear that they had not hired Won Seogang and me merely as guards.

The Detoxification Hall members had an even more one-sided fight.

As if to prove that the Tang Clan possessed more than poison and hidden weapons, they skillfully wielded their swords while throwing hidden weapons between strikes.

In less than a quarter-hour, corpses had piled up around us.

When even the leader fell with an injury to his leg, the remaining bandits lost their will to fight and began racing to flee.

Every one of them fell after being struck in the back or the back of the head by hidden weapons.

Three or four of the men who had ambushed us also crawled up the slope in utter panic.

We did not bother pursuing them. We had killed enough, and if they truly were poisoned, they were dead men anyway.

The revolting smell of blood filled the air. Flies were already buzzing over the dozens of corpses, severed heads, and scattered limbs strewn across the mountain path and slope.

Faint shadows moved over the ground. I tilted my head back and looked up.

Blue sky, white clouds. Under the blazing summer sun, a flock of crows had gathered without my noticing and circled overhead, waiting for their turn.

I wiped the blood from my long saber on a dead man’s clothes and sheathed it.

My face, soaked with blood and sweat, itched. Drops of sweat ran down from my brows. Squinting, I walked to the carriage.

I took a towel from my bundle and wiped my hands. The old cotton cloth quickly turned red. I took out several more and wiped my face and hair.

As I drank from a bamboo water flask, Won Seogang approached.

“If you have a spare towel, give me one too.”

I handed Won Seogang several and resumed drinking.

The injured bandit leader was dragged before Dang Dohun and interrogated.

I was too far away to hear them, but it was not hard to guess what they were discussing.

Won Seogang sat on the edge of the carriage, drank water, and surveyed the scene of slaughter.

“Seeing that they even prepared bamboo shields, these bastards really came prepared.”

“It seems the traitor poisoned the bandits.”

The moment the leader mentioned an antidote, I had roughly understood what had happened.

Bandits rarely risk their lives to ambush travelers. To make them charge in like madmen without regard for their lives, there had to be something great enough to blind them to everything else.

Either an enormous sum of money, or their lives were at stake.

Won Seogang nodded.

“Is killing with a borrowed knife not a common tactic? They merely used poison because they are skilled in poison arts. Miss Dang seems to know something?”

Dang Hyeseo was examining the dead bandits with her subordinate. She pulled open their jaws to inspect their tongues, then took a needle from inside her robes and pricked them in several places before approaching the carriage.

“Were the bandits truly poisoned?”

“It’s Soul-Shaving Acid.”

“Is it really vicious enough to make them risk their lives like that?”

Since she had so readily revealed the poison’s name, I had wondered if there was more to it. As expected, Dang Hyeseo answered without hesitation.

“Once poisoned, they die within a quarter-hour, bleeding from their seven orifices.”

“It does not seem like they were poisoned less than a quarter-hour ago.”

“They must have taken a neutralizing agent. Taking it once a day can stop the poison’s attacks. Once the medicine wears off, though, the poison will eventually consume them.”

I could now see how the Tang Clan traitor we were pursuing had used the bandits.

They must have captured one man, fed him Soul-Shaving Acid, and let him die bleeding from his seven orifices. Then they poisoned all the bandits and gave them enough neutralizing agent to last several days.

They likely told them that the people following behind had the antidote, then left.

After seeing their comrade die such a horrific death, the bandits would have had no choice.

“Is there really an antidote?”

“There is.”

Dang Hyeseo nodded, then frowned at my bloodstained towels. My heart skipped a beat.

“I was soaked in their blood. Surely I’m not poisoned too?”

“You’ll be fine unless you drank a large amount of their blood. Poison remains in a poisoned person’s blood, but it was diluted by the neutralizing agent. Getting some on your hands or face will not matter.”

Slightly relieved, I looked beside me. Won Seogang wore an indifferent expression.

“You knew?”

“Isn’t it obvious? If the blood of men or beasts turned entirely into poison, they would not be walking around normally.”

Once the chaotic killing ended, the horses tied to the carriage scraped their forehooves over the dirt and snorted as though urging us to leave quickly.

The drivers were busy searching the dead bandits’ clothes.

From experience, I knew that even if you stripped a bandit down to his underwear, you would not find a single coin. Even if they had hidden gold beneath their balls, I had no desire to touch poisoned corpses.

While Dang Dohun interrogated the bandit leader, the monk who had vanished came down from the mountain.

To anyone watching, it would have looked as though the monk had become frightened by the battle, hidden away, and only now crawled back out.

But a master of the monk’s level could not possibly be such a coward.

Nor did the monk look embarrassed or concerned about what the others thought.

Where had the monk gone, and what had they been doing?

As I watched the monk closely, Won Seogang spoke.

“Looks like they visited the bandit stronghold.”

“Why? Don’t tell me they went to rob it?”

“Who knows? They never say a word. They did this once before too. The rest of us went through hell because of it. Now do you understand why I hate traveling alone with that damn monk?”

Having heard everything he needed, Dang Dohun beheaded the bandit leader as the man begged for his life.

“Clear only the corpses blocking the road, then leave the mountains as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Tang Clan members put on leather gloves and moved the corpses into the brush. Dang Dohun walked over.

Seeing that Dang Hyeseo was unharmed, he let out a sigh.

“Are you all right? You are not hurt?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“The bandits were poisoned with Soul-Shaving Acid.”

“So it seems. The testing needle reacted.”

Dang Dohun seemed to have something to say, but closed his mouth and turned his gaze to Won Seogang and me.

“Everyone seems fine, so let us move at once. You there, that is enough. Let’s leave.”

Only when Dang Dohun urged them did the drivers finally step away from the corpses. They loaded useful swords, sabers, and broken blades onto the roof of the carriage, then climbed into the driver’s seats.

Once everyone was aboard, we departed immediately. As the carriage rattled away along the dusty mountain road, the crows descended on the corpses.

We passed through the brush and left the valley behind. Fresh air full of the scent of grass flowed in.

It was refreshing, but whenever the wind died down, the stench of blood from my body filled the air. The blood-soaked portions of my clothes had dried stiff.

Washing them would not be enough. It was fortunate that I had packed several changes of clothes.

By the time we left the mountains, the sun was setting in the west.

A small village and an inn came into view in the distance.

“We’ll stay there tonight.”

At Won Seogang’s words, I gazed at the inn and slowly nodded.

I needed to wash the blood off myself, change clothes, and regain my strength.

They had only been insignificant bandits, but killing people was exhausting work.

Once my overheated nerves calmed down, fatigue and muscle pain would come crashing in. A few of us would probably have vicious dreams tonight.

We needed rest and time to recover before properly resuming the pursuit tomorrow.

Dang Dohun apparently thought the same, for the carriage headed straight toward the inn.

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